A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

PLANNING PROCESS EMBEDDED AT THE ‘SPECIAL’

EPORTFOLIO FOR GENERIC COMPETENCIES
DEVELOPMENT
Dorinda FUNG, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Winnie LEE, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Charlotte CHOW, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Abstract
University education does not only provide students with the opportunities to
acquire subject
knowledge, but life skills for effective learning and to become successful
practitioners in their
fields of study. Student Affairs Office of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
supports the
university’s mission of developing students’ generic competencies by
creating the SPECIAL
ePortfolio. The concept of personal development planning is built into the
system as to
improve the capacity of students to understand what and how they are
learning, and to review,
plan and take responsibility for their own learning. The ePortfolio serves the
purposes of
personal and career development. A feasibility study was conducted at the
planning stage by
inviting students for focus groups. The results showed that students did not
quite appreciate
the value of managing their own learning through personal development
planning, but they
realized the importance of developing generic competencies. They usually
join extracurricular
activities, gain job experience, participate at exchange programmes and
collaborate
with peers at academic work. If students were asked to use the ePortfolio,
they tended to look
for resources that assist them to plan and prepare for career.
Keywords: generic competence, life skill, personal development planning,
ePortfolio, student
development
Introduction
People often perceive education as a process where students engage in
programmes which are
meant to deliver specific subject domain outcomes. Increasingly we are
becoming aware that
effective university teaching and learning extends beyond the development
of skills and
knowledge in specific subject domains. There are other forms of skills that are
often common
to all courses, regardless of their subject domain and are often referred to as
key skills or
generic competencies. In a knowledge society, this extended set of outcomes
in curriculum
and teaching are gaining prominence in all sectors of education, including the
higher
education in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University adopts two approaches of developing
students’
generic competencies, particularly in the areas of global outlook, critical and
creative
thinking, social and national responsibility, cultural appreciation, life-long
learning, biliteracy
and trilingualism, entrepreneurship and leadership as stipulated at the
University’s strategic
objective one.The first approach is by means of introducing specific and
separate mandatory
subjects into the curriculum, such as language subject and general education.
The other
approach is to embed the development of students’ generic competencies
integrally into the
subjects of the mainstream disciplinary curriculum by introducing new
curricular emphases,
teaching methods and educational technologies. Faculty members also
collaborate with
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Student Affairs Office (SAO) in organizing co-curricular programmes that
foster students’
development of generic competencies.
SAO has been active in providing a comprehensive range of co-curricular and
extra curricular
programmes and conducting research studies on students’ developmental
needs. In view of
the institutional concern on developing students’ generic competencies, SAO
initiated a
gigantic project entitled “SPECIAL ePortfolio for all round development” where
opportunities for assessing and developing generic competencies are
grounded. This paper
examines the personal development planning (PDP) process underpinning the
development of
the SPECIAL ePortfolio and describes a feasibility study exploring students’
reaction towards
PDP and their interests on this e-learning tool.
Personal development planning and instructional guidance
Personal development planning is “a structured and supported process
undertaken by an
individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/ or
achievement and to plan for
their personal, educational and career development” (Quality Assurance
Agency, 2000). The
concept of personal development planning (PDP) is embedded at the SPECIAL
ePortfolio as
illustrated at Figure 1. Students are able to understand their strengths and
weaknesses by
completing assessment on generic competencies, physical fitness and
psychological health
available at ePortfolio. They are provided with guidelines on how to set
meaningful yet
realistic goals and action items. After taking up their planned actions, they
can document
their experience and to reflect on their own learning, performance or
achievement at the
ePortfolio. The primary objective of personal development planning is to
improve the
capacity of students to understand what and how they are learning, and to
review, plan and
take responsibility for their own learning (Cottrell, 2003).
Figure 1: The concept of personal development planning underpinning the
SPECIAL
ePortfolio
2
There is a close relationship between personal development planning and
career development.
Effective engagement with the personal development planning process can
provide students
with both the evidence and the language to convey their achievements to
employers. In
addition, reflecting on development and identifying strengths and
weaknesses can help the
individual develop as a learner and understand how their learning relates to a
wider context
(The Higher Education Academy, 2005).
Personal development planning can be facilitated or self directed (Gough et
al, 2003). Not all
students are capable of going through this process by themselves, but a self
directed learner is
able to benefit most out of it. What if students lack independence, confidence
or resources
when going through the personal development planning cycle? Students need
instructional
guidance from instructor or mentor to support them through the process.
Effective PDP
practice needs the integration with mainstream academic pursuits, links to
the learning
objectives and outcomes of programmes and to be supported by lecturing
staff, underpinned
by support from the institution. (The Higher Education Academy, 2005).
Categorization of generic competencies into SPECIAL domain
It has always been the mission of SAO in developing students’ generic
competencies for
effective learning and career. Other than the generic competencies listed in
the University’s
strategic objective, SAO has been keen and effective in developing students’
generic
competencies in other areas such as psychological wellness, interpersonal
skills, etc. All these
generic competencies were categorized in the following seven SPECIAL
domains. This
categorization gave students the full picture of all kinds of generic
competencies. They were
not required to develop all competencies during their university life, but those
relevant to their
professional and personal needs.
SAO’s SPECIAL
Domain
Generic
Competencies
Description
Leadership *
Leadership refers to the ability to build up a
common vision; infuse team members with
energy and confidence; encourage people to
persist in their efforts; explore new ways to
improve; and implement strategies that
enhance the overall performance of the
team.
Teamwork
Teamwork refers to the willingness to
support team decisions; the ability to
exchange information about work in a
timely manner; maintain openness to
information, ideas, and feelings of others;
create and maintain an atmosphere that
fosters open communication; and effectively
manage and resolve conflicts.
Interpersonal
Effectiveness
Interpersonal effectiveness refers to the
mastery of essential social skills to perform
effectively in major interpersonal task
domains and the ability to engage others in
social discourse.
S Social
development
Communication *
It refers to the ability to apply oral and
writing skills to communicate clearly,
concisely, and effectively with others.
P Psychological
development
Emotional Quotient
& Psychological
Wellness
It is the ability to perceive and express
emotions, to understand and to manage them
for fostering personal growth.
3
Physical
development
Healthy Lifestyle The way people live and develop habits in
fostering good health.
E Ethics Social and National
Responsibility *
Social and national responsibility is based
on a belief in the dignity, rights, and equality
of all individuals; and a deep concern over
moral and social problems in our city, our
country, and our world. In practice, it means
how ready are we to help others even when
there is no personal gain; and to perform our
civic duty as a citizen.
C Career
development
Entrepreneurship *
Entrepreneurship refers to the major
behavioural characteristics of entrepreneurs:
(1) proactively scan business environments
in search of new opportunities; (2) generate
innovative solutions to problems; (3) take
initiatives in identifying and organizing
resources to convert opportunities into
marketable goods or services; and (4) create
own business organizations.
Critical Thinking *
It refers to the ability to identify and
interpret problems, to state strong
reasons/evidences to support a given
argument, to analyze arguments, to make
conclusions, and to identify illogical
reasoning in similar situations.
Creative Thinking *
It refers to the ability to use one’s
imagination freely to generate new ideas. It
is the ability to discover and apply new and
useful angles, ideas, and methods to
understand and manage routine matters.
I Intellectual
development
Problem Solving
It refers to the ability to identify problems,
set goals, plan and find strategies to solve
them successfully and effectively.
A Aesthetics Cultural
Appreciation *
It refers to the behavioral involvement in,
attitudes and understandings of various
artistic and cultural forms. The degree of
interest in and the ability to appreciate and
understand the beauty of arts, ethnic heritage
and natural environment are examined.
Life-long Learning *
Lifelong learning refers to ongoing
acquisition of knowledge, skills and
competencies pursued throughout life.
Therefore, it involves one’s ability to
cultivate an aspiration towards the mastery
of new knowledge and skills, to take
initiative to formulate one’s own plan and
direct one’s learning activities by managing
well the available learning resources.
L Learning
Global Outlook * Global outlook refers to an understanding of
the interdependency of nations and peoples,
and the political, economic, ecological, and
social concepts and values that affect lives
within and across national boundaries.
4
Having a general knowledge of history and
world events and the ability to accept and
cope with the existence of different cultural
values and attitudes, it allows for the
exploration of multiple perspectives on
events and issues.
Remark: those marked with the asterisk ‘*’ are listed at the university’s
strategic objective 1.
Methodology
In the initial stage of planning the SPECIAL ePortfolio project during Spring
2007, a
feasibility study was carried out by conducting focus groups. The main
purpose of this focus
group study was to solicit in-depth and detailed comments from
undergraduates on
development of generic competencies in university life, categorization of
generic
competencies into SPECIAL domains, personal development planning and
expectations on
features available at ePortfolio.
The ultimate objective of building the ePortfolio is to foster students’ all-round
development.
The research team would like to know if there were different opinions
between students who
are socially active and those who are not. A socially active group of eleven
students and a
socially inactive group of nine students participated separately at two focus
groups. At the
beginning of the discussion, the moderator briefed students about the
purpose of the study,
anonymity, confidential treatment of data, and freedom of expressing
opinions. Following the
discussion guide, the moderator also used projective techniques to facilitate
the discussion.
Qualitative data of the focus group transcriptions was coded and being
identified into broad
themes for analysis.
Discussion
Students were facilitated to discuss a number of important issues related to
skills development
and university life. The following topics were included, but discussion was not
limited by
them.
Students’ expectation on outcomes of university education
Employers’ preferences on graduate attributes
Introduction of SPECIAL categorization and personal development planning
Introduction of ePortfolio
Students’ perception on employer’s expectation on graduate
The two groups of students had similar views about employers’ expectations
on university
graduates. A graduate should possess good language skills in English,
Chinese and Mandarin,
good at teamwork, stress management, interpersonal skills, analytical ability
and be able to
solve problems. In terms of working attitude, a graduate should be a
responsible person, being
confident and have interests in job.
Skills development in higher education
The socially active group mentioned overseas experience as a good way to
learn to become
more well-rounded.
“Leave HK. This is true. You better join exchange programmes. It is the most
efficient way. I took an intern in US last summer and participated at an
exchange
programme in German.” (Third year Accounting and Finance student, socially
active
group)
5
Both groups mentioned participating or organizing extra curricular activities
(e.g. voluntary
service, outward bound, etc.), taking part-time job or internship as ways to
improve teamwork
and to build up network with different people. The socially inactive group
realized that doing
group project and assignment also improve teamwork.
Students from the socially active groups understood that they need the
experiential learning
context to learn and develop generic competencies.
“Generic competencies are not learnt through attending seminar. The most
effective
way is to provide students' opportunities to practise these skills. E.g. through
intern &
exchange…” (Third year Hotel and Tourism Management student, socially
active
group)
“If you ask me to join few days of training camp on these generic skills, it
wouldn't
work on me. I think overseas exposure is better. For example, culture is not
learnt
through training, but interacting with people from other countries.” (First year
Engineering student, socially active group)
SPECIAL categorization
The two groups of students in general found the categorization of generic
competencies into
the seven SPECIAL domains systematic. Still they were unable to comprehend
all seven
SPECIAL domains because they thought it was too detailed and academic.
Dimensions such
as “aesthetic” was not related to their major and it would be difficult for them
to develop
“entrepreneurship” skills. The SPECIAL categorization was too
comprehensive, they would
like to focus on important domains such as “intellectual development”,
“learning” and
“psychological development” and eliminate the less important domains such
as “aesthetic”
and “ethnics”.
“I think these terms are too academic. For example, those whom are not
Business
major would not know the meaning of entrepreneurship.”
(Third year Logistic students, socially active group)
“Too many categories... I have no patience to read through.”
(First year Textile and Clothing student, socially inactive group)
“I think the framework shall include the core competencies only. It shall focus
on
those that many students are weak of, but needs improvement…”
(Second year Computing student, socially active group)
Personal development planning (PDP)
The process of personal development planning was introduced by the
moderator. Students’
comments were mostly negative. Both groups found it troublesome to
engage in PDP because
of the heavy administrative workload of documenting their goals, plans and
reflection. They
were not motivated to take up PDP because employers did not recognize it
and they did not
see any value of self-monitoring.
“I think that if you ask students to document these things, it is quite
troublesome”
(Third year Design student, socially active group)
“PDP is not a new thing to me. Many of us were asked to set our plan in
primary or
secondary school. How many of us would do so? Even if students set their
plan, they
might have forgotten that they had any plans at all.”
(First year Applied Biology and Chemical Technology student, socially active
group)
“I wonder if employers are interested to read your PDP plan. No use. What is
the use
if I set plan and goal where I am the only one to read?”
(Third year Accounting and Finance student, socially active group)
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“I do not think the PDP tool can help me, I know all these stuff (i.e. to plan, to
implement and to evaluate) already.”
(Second year Nursing student, socially inactive group)
The moderator further explained PDP where instructional assistance could be
provided by an
advisor or a mentor during the PDP process. Most students still have
reservation in taking up
PDP, except a few from the socially inactive group. If they were asked to
engage in PDP,
students wished to receive individual tailored guidance from mentor whom is
very
experienced with the skills development, familiar with their’ own personality
and personal
growth. They would stop consulting the mentor if they found the guidance
rather general.
“The person who guides me has to understand my personality very well in
order to
provide useful and tailored guidance.”
(Third year Logistic student, socially active group)
“I expect there will be a good mentor with relevant experience and with
certain
qualifications in guiding me to develop the interests and abilities that I am
having. In
this case, I am willing to spare my time to join this activity as I regard it as
beneficial
to my future life.”
(First year Engineering student, socially inactive group)
Students’ concern on ePortfolio purposes, features and system
usability
Instead of mastering separate systems available at the university, students
expected an
integration of different systems, including ePortfolio. They were mainly
concerned of easy
navigation, being able to access ePortfolio after graduation, being able to
share the ePortfolio
with others and employer’s recognition on the use of ePortfolio in job
application. Students
did not want to produce a long piece of writing at the ePortfolio. They
preferred the flexibility
of writing down their daily life experience, not learning experience in
particular. If they were
asked to use ePortfolio, they were mostly concerned of its career
development purpose.
“If ePortfolio can further integrate all the existing things like WebMail, WebCT
into
one place, I think most students will favour and are willing to use.”
(Second year Textile and Clothing student, socially inactive group)
“It can somehow suit my needs in pursuing my career. If there is more career
related
information, such as cover letter sample, it would be better.”
(Third year Accounting and Finance student, socially active group)
“I don’t want to make a long writing at ePortfolio by answering the pre-set
question
such as ‘What were the kind of generic skills developed throughout your
activity?’. It
is OK for me to jot down something related to my daily life. Something that is
more
interesting.”
(First year Engineering student, socially active group)
Conclusion
Students understood the importance of developing generic competencies as
these are life
skills for career and effective learning. They tended to take part in co-
curricular and extracurricular
activities, getting work experience, participating at exchange programme or
collaborate with peers at academic work as to widen their horizon and to
become wellrounded.
Students in general appreciate ePortfolio for its easy accessibility to SAO
programmes and resources. Both groups of students share similar views on
personal
development planning (PDP), SPECIAL categorization and purpose for using
ePortfolio.
They seemed less keen in using ePortfolio for personal development, but
more interested at
career planning and development. Perhaps they could not see the value of
self-monitoring
one’s growth through PDP. Another reason could be the fact that students
failed to imagine
the full features and resources available at ePortfolio and the possible
instructional support
7
behind it. Instead of marketing and introducing PDP directly to students, it is
recommended to
embed it into personal development programmes organized by SAO.
Instructors of related
programmes are suggested to review the course curricular and to plan if PDP
fit into the
learning context. Instructional support shall be provided to help students to
set meaningful
goals and to monitor their personal development progress. Instructors shall
recognize and
reward students when they have met their learning objectives. A year-long
Good Starter
Programme is planned with the aim to help freshman for university
adjustment and adaptation.
Instructors will walk through the process of goal setting and planning for
university life by
using the SPECIAL ePortfolio. Personal advisors will meet students regularly
and to provide
instructional support for students’ personal development planning.
References
[1] Cottrell, S. (2003), Skills for Success: the Personal Development Planning
Handbook,
England: Palgrave Macmillan.
[2] Gough, D.A., Kiwan, D., Sutcliffe, S., Simpson, D. & Houghton, N. (2003), A
systematic
map and synthesis review of the effectiveness of personal development
planning for
improving student learning. Generic Centre, Learning and Teaching Support
Network.
[3] Guide for Busy Academics No.1, Personal development Planning, The
Higher
Education Academy, 2005. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/id66_guide_for_busy_academics
_no1
[4] Guidelines for Higher Education Progress File, The Quality Assurance
Agency for
Higher Education, 2000.
[5] Strategic Planning Committee (2001), Strategic Objectives for the Years
2001 to 2007,
Retrieved April 14, 2007, from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Strategic Plan
for 2001/02 to 2006/07 website:
http://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/polyu/strategic_plan/2001_2006/eng/soa.htm
Authors
Director of Student Affairs, Mrs Dorinda Fung
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Student Affairs Office
Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
sadfung@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Section Head (Student Development), Mrs Winnie Lee
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Student Affairs Office
Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
sawinnie@inet.polyu.edu.hk
Project Officer, Ms Charlotte Chow
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Student Affairs Office
Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
sachow@inet.polyu.edu.