Higher Education Commission

Quality Enhancement Cell

How to Develop
Personal Development Plans?

Dr. Gohar Wajid

goharwajid@gmail.com
February 2014
 My Dilemma
I was taught:

Matric (Pakistan)
FSc (Pakistan)
MBBS (Pakistan)
MSc (UK)
MPH (Australia)
PhD (UK)

Personal Development Planning

and Life Long Learning (Do it yourself)
 My Dilemma
Qualifications / degrees Institutional

Personal Development
Planning (PDP) Non-institutional
 Life of A Doctor

02 y. Infancy
04 y. Kindergarten
12 y. Education up to high school
06 y. Undergraduate ME
06 y. Postgraduate ME
40 y. Professional life as a doctor!
70 y. life expectancy
 Life Long Learning
Structured Learning Unstructured Learning
Teacher Directed Learning Self Directed Learning

KG HS UG PG CPD

Learning is a Life Long process

Exponential Increase in
Knowledge
I feel bored, the day I don't..

Smoking;
Drinking coffee/tea;
Exercise;
Chat on face book;
Check my email;
Talk to my friends;
Learn something new.
 Objectives
Understand the concept of Life
long Learning (LLL);

Appreciate the significance of

reflection and reflective practices;

Understand the concept the

Personal Development Planning;

Determine the role of portfolios in

Personal Development Planning.
Life Long
Learning
 Life Long Learning
Ongoing, voluntary, and self motivated"
pursuit of knowledge for either personal or
professional reasons. Wikipedia
Features of Life Long Learning
Independence, creativity and self-reliance are
all facilitated when self-criticism and self-
evaluation are basic and evaluation by others
of secondary importance.

We must learn to develop our own internal

standards and continually evaluate ourselves
against these.
LIFE LONG LEARNING
Continuing
Professional
development
Portfolio
Building
Personal
Development Plan
LIFE LONG LEARNING
Continuing
Professional
development
Portfolio
Building
Personal
Development Plan

Reflective Practice
Reflection
 Reflection
Reflection is a thinking process that occurs
before, during and after situations with the
purpose of developing greater understanding
of both the self and the situation so that
future encounters with the situation are
informed from previous encounters.
Med Teacher
Gibbs Model
Schons Model

Reflection
In action
Reflection
On action
Reflection on action
Reflection in action
Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning
Can you name
something
you think you
need to learn?

Why???
Personal Development Plans
 Personal Development Plans
Personal learning plans represent a way in
which you can identify:

what you need to learn;

why you need to learn it;
how you are going to learn it;
how you will know when you have learned it;
in what time frame you are going to learn it
how your intentions link to past and future
learning. (AMEE Guide 19)
 Synonyms

learning contracts;
learning agreements;
personal development planning;
personal audit;
personal action planning;
learner profiling.
 Principles of
Personal Development Planning
Putting the learner at the centre of
the learning process, using your
current practice;

Autonomy as a learner;

Identify your own learning needs;

The close integration of theory and

practice in how you work and
develop as a professional;
 Principles of
Personal Development Planning
Enhancing your motivation to
learn and to ask appropriate
questions of yourself and others;

Monitoring your learning process

as your personal needs and
circumstances change, and your
learning progresses.
 Four key Points
What is the current situation?

How could it be improved?

How can this be achieved?

What will it look like when we get there?

 How do PDPs Look Like?

There is no set formula for writing a

personal learning plan, and there is no
doubt that individual learning contexts
will call for distinct and appropriate
documentation.
 Challenges in Introducing PLPs
How should the programme be organized
at institutional level?

How to develop sufficient number of

advisers/mentors?

How to motivate people to become parts

of PLP?

Individuals may not be able to articulate

learning needs!!!
What goes into a Personal Learning Plan?

Your learning plan will be based on your

own personal and professional
development needs.

This means that it is impossible to state

specifically what will go into it or the
areas it will cover.
What goes into a Personal Learning Plan?

The National Association of Non-Principals in

General Practice (NANP 1999) has developed
a recording process for personal development
planning which falls under seven headings:

family and friendships;

career and learning;
environment/surroundings;
physical health;
hobbies/interests;
finances;
spiritual.
 My Learning Needs
Job related learning needs;

Personal development needs (computers);

Soft skills (Stress Management, Conflict resolution,

Time Management);

Parenting skills;

Thinking skills (cognition, meta-cognition, emotional

intelligence etc.)
 PUNs & DENs

Patients Unmet Needs

Doctors Educational
Needs
 Some Examples.
clinical skills;
teaching skills;
negotiation skills;
time-management skills;
IT and the use of informatics;
education and teaching theory;
research;
team-building and team-working
skills;
financial management.
How to meet these needs??
books and journals;
CD ROMs, email and other electronic media;
audio and video materials;

colleagues and other professionals;

seminars and conferences;
visiting colleagues to observe their practice;

professional associations;
case notes;
TV and radio;

librarians;
personal diary or journal;
preparing for accreditation processes
 Where would you
like to see yourself
in the next five
years?
What are your
learning /
professional
development needs
to achieve your
goals?
Build Your
Portfolio
 Portfolio

CV
vs
Portfolio
CV
 Portfolio:

A professional development portfolio

is a collection of material, made by
professional, that records, and
reflects on, key events and processes
in that professionals career.

(Hall, 1992)
Portfolios are very popular
in art and design
Portfolios are very popular
in architecture
 Role of Portfolios
KG HS UG PG CPD

Portfolios Portfolios Portfolios

Portfolios help in providing evidence that:

Learning is taking place;

Formative and summative assessment;
Continuing Professional Development.
 Benefits of Portfolios

Recognizes and encourages autonomous and

reflective learning;
Based on the real experience of the learner;
Allows a range of learning styles;
Allows formative and summative assessment;
Accommodates evidence of learning;
Provides a model for life-long learning and
professional development.
 Purposes of Portfolio

Personal or professional
Private or public
Externally evaluated or assessed;
For individual reflection only.
Responsibility for Developing Portfolio

Portfolio belongs to the

learner and the learner must
take the responsibility to for
its development, maintenance
and presentation for review.
Purpose of Portfolio

Portfolio

Reflective Adult
Practice learning
 Use of Portfolios
Portfolio

Initial and continuing professional development

Processes Outcomes
A Portfolio generally may consist of:
Experiences: what has been done, seen written;
Learning: something learnt has significance for
changing things in the future;
Evidence: how the learning is being applied in
an appropriate context;
Learning needs: an identification of where it would
be appropriate to go next;
Learning opportunities:
an educational action plan identifying
ways in which learning needs might be
met. (Redman, 1994)
 Portfolios and Continuing
Professional Development:
Traditional models of professional development
relied on the individuals sense of moral obligation
and individual motivation to keep abreast of changes
and new developments in the field;

CPD models focus on the number of hours spent in

teaching and learning a activities;

While the focus of CPD should be on learning and

change of practice that takes place as a result of CPD.
 Structure of a Portfolio
Unstructured?????

A title page;
Contents page;
List of learning objectives whose achievement the
evidence in the portfolio claims to demonstrate;
A short reflective overview, summarizing the learning
that has taken place since the last portfolio review;
The evidence itself, probably grouped together into
the areas contained in the learning objectives.
 Choice of Evidence

Direct (created by the learner):

Letters, articles, presentations, critical
incident reviews, audit reports, reviews of
literature, teaching learning artifacts
developed by the learner
Indirect (items about the learner):
testimonials, references, letters about
the learner, videotapes etc.
 You have applied
for a new job. The
interviewer asks
you to reflect on
your personal
development in the
past one year. What
would you say?
 Summary
Life Long learning is the hallmark of mankind;

Reflection is at the heart of life long learning

and personal development planning;

Personal development planning is the

responsibility of learners;

Portfolios provide evidence of personal

development planning. CVs being replaced by
portfolios.