First Meeting of Steering Group

The EAT-PDP Steering group met for the first time on Monday in the Templeman Library. The Steering Group draws together members from the Unit for the Enhancement of Learning & Teaching (Jane Carne), the Careers Advisory Office(Bruce Woodcock) and the Alumni Relations office (Fiona Jones) along with Michael Wilcox, Steve Coppin and Leo Lyons from Information Services.
After the administrative parts of the meeting were completed, members discussed how the Project should proceed and talked about how the project’s work might impact on the members’ own areas of responsibility. There were some concerns that work with myFolio, which had been on-going for the last couple of years, might be negatively impacted if the findings of the EAT-PDP project and feedback from its focus groups was not always positive. This was a risk particularly as the EAT-PDP focus group members had, by design, been ‘left to their own devices’ and given only minimal training in myFolio in contrast to previous pilot groups who had been well supported. It was acknowledged that there was a need to avoid creating negative impressions – especially as overall the reaction from all users was very positive – but this had to be offset against the need to give comprehensive reports based on the feedback received by the project.
The aims of the EAT-PDP project are well-defined and separate from other work done in the area but there are areas of overlap. In particular the EAT-PDP project will be informed by alumni use of Mahara/myFolio and seek to demonstrate how this can enhance and extend relationships between the university and its graduates.
The wide range of experience – of alumni relations, careers, PDP and Learning Research – presented by members of the Steering Group membership gives a strong base to build the project on. All members were enthusiastic about the benefits myFolio would bring to Kent’s students and felt that by ensuring good communication across the areas represented we could not only ensure the project was ‘well driven’ but would also improve relationships between the various interested groups represented.
The Steering Group will meet again in one month’s time