Evaluating GraysNet: an online PDP tool for use in an art and design context

Personal development planning (PDP) is a phrase that encompasses a number of activities including reflecting on learning, recording of achievement and career planning. Embedding these activities is a goal widely shared across higher education, but strategies for achieving it vary widely. This article provides an overview of some of these strategies including online web-based tools developed to facilitate the PDP process. The article describes an ADC-LTSN1-funded research project which evaluated a PDP system embedded within a managed learning environment (GraysNet) specifically developed to support teaching and learning in an art and design context at Gray's School of Art, the Robert Gordon University. Assessment of the PDP process has led to the conclusion that a more discursive approach may be more appropriate in an art and design context. The evaluation has resulted in a reappraisal of the way in which PDP can be supported online and makes recommendations for future developments in this rapidly developing field.