Supporting the deployment of learning technologies
Once it was agreed that I would support the introduction of PebblePad for the midwifery degree programme, I began to plan how I would do this.
My first task was to take the existing midwifery portfolio and build an online version using PebblePad. I was aware that the midwifery programme at the University of Bradford used PebblePad for their practice documentation. I met with their eportfolio lead to discuss their implementation of the system and to share portfolio designs. Having reviewed the Bradford portfolio with the Midwifery Team at York, it was decided that they would prefer a bespoke version of their current practice portfolio built in PebblePad. It was important that my design adhered to standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and I worked closely with the programme lead to achieve this.
Due to the large size of the midwifery portfolio (see pdf copy to the right) and the navigational restrictions within PebblePad, I made the decision to split the original document into three separate workbook sections (the three sections can be viewed below).
Stage 2 CAP FINAL.pdf
I presented my portfolio design along with the pilot project plan to the Midwifery Programmes Committee who approved the proposals. The Committee choose the second year students to act as a pilot group due to their familiarity with the practice assessment requirements.
To introduce PebblePad I delivered a taught classroom session for the 20 students in the pilot group (see lesson plan to the right). I planned the session so that the students had a basic understanding of the principles of keeping a portfolio in PebblePad and ensuring that they produced the required evidence for the Nursing and Midwifery Council. I tried not to overwhelm the students with all PebblePad's features and instead focused on the main actions they would need to complete their practice portfolios. Feedback and discussion from the session guided the portfolio design, such as the introduction of a supplementary work page for additional evidence to be included. I also delivered training sessions for all of the students' practice mentors and supervisors to enable them to support their students in using the system.
In hindsight I tried to fit too much information into the student's training session. Students in the pilot group were confused about processes such as sharing their 'Records of Experience' with non PebblePad users via the internet. I learnt that it was better to spread the lesson plan over two 1 hour sessions so that students have a better understanding of what they are being asked to do and are not overwhelmed with information.
I continued to support all users throughout the pilot and conducted an evaluation at the end of the period using Google Forms. The feedback from the students (see right) was generally positive, demonstrating the usability of the system. Following a review of the feedback with the programme lead it was agreed that PebblePad would be introduced across the whole programme from September 2015, with some amendments made to the pilot portfolio to improve its usability.
Supporting the deployment of PebblePad within the midwifery programme was a learning curve for myself. The design of the students portfolio has developed since the pilot as a result of user feedback. Examples of alterations made during this period include:
- The combining of three elements of the portfolio into one document using nested workbooks
- The introduction of a results summary page to produce reports for the assessment team
- The inclusion of a summative reflection assessed by the midwifery team
- The option to include hand written feedback for each Record of Experience
These changes to the process were ideas that I had not initially considered but became apparent as users started to work with the system. I learnt that it is important to maintain a dialogue with the users in order for the system to develop into something that has a positive impact on learning.
Certain elements had to be altered due to the limitations of the system. For example it was not possible to build the 30 tables used in the midwifery diary in PebblePad as the Flash based element in the system at the time would slow and become unresponsive. Instead I used a repeating row table as a work around that would grow each time the student wished to add a new row with more hours. This solution met with a mixed response as the large tables would become difficult to extract information when totalling the student's final hours. I supported the students in using their new PebblePad diaries, but feedback from evaluations and discussions suggested it would be easier for the students to keep their diaries on paper allowing for faster daily verification from their mentors. In response to this I have added PDF diary templates to PebblePad that can be downloaded, printed and re-uploaded once complete. I learnt from this process that it is important to find the most effective method for ease of use from a system and that technical barriers should not be created to the detriment of the student's learning.
The system continues to evolve (recently moving away from the old Flash based version to a new HTML5 version in September 2016) providing further opportunities for development.
The pilot process was very helpful enabling me to understand what users require from a learning technology system such as PebblePad. I continue to use the lessons learned from this process as I work towards introducing the system to other programmes in the Department.