The usefulness of PebblePad

Little to say on this topic at this stage.

I am very impressed with PebblePad as a piece of software. It presents a flexible, polished and inviting interface to the user, and produces high quality outputs which are easily shared with peers, tutors or the general public.

It is though a limited piece of software, especially where learning is concerned. I would not see PebblePad as a good tool for the primary engagement with learning - Campus ("WebCT") would be better. PebblePad comes into its own IMO as a secondary tool, for reflection on learning and collation of reflective resources and records of achievement etc.

I would be interested in being part of a course which used PebblePad extensively for sharing webfolios as living documents of learning.

As far as I am aware, PebblePad is currently very little-used across the University in learning contexts; its main use seems to be as a tool for documenting personal development and creating CVs.

Sharing records of learning through PebblePad webfolios

"post a comment on the benefits of sharing assets and providing students with the ability to create their own webfolios"

I think the potential benefits of a webfolio in supporting learning would be highly dependent on the nature and content of the module or course.

For a tutor to share assets, and to encourage students to create and share their own assets, could create an environment where active involvement in learning occurs e.g. through students responding in short pieces of writing to elements of the course content. It would perhaps also add an interesting element of development and synchronicity, as students can see the development of the tutor's materials and there might be a sense of the process of collective, two-way learning, as opposed to students assimilating a static body of knowledge.

However there would have to be an expectation that students' created assets were a reflection of their learning, rather than just comments on things they have read. I.e. the assets should show a constructed response, combining reflection on course content with prior background knowledge and understanding.

For students, creating a webfolio as the course progresses can be a positive developmental process which encourages creative responses to learning, a sense of closer involvement with the course content and greater confidence in using online learning tools and simply writing.

The user-friendliness of PebblePad

(Originally written Monday 27th November. Copied over from PebblePad.)

I think PebblePad is not as friendly as it should be.

Although it benefits from an attractive user interface, there are perhaps too many options for types of asset, which can be off-putting for new users - the user is asked to make too many decisions by default. For more advanced users, further options could be made available if required.

I suppose, in defence of the programmers, they have offered through PebblePad a good range of asset options which they wanted to make available to all users.

Another feature which bugged me was the step-by-step process of creating an asset. I would rather have been asked to start writing straight away, as with Blogger, and then come back and added other data such as date and reflection afterwards if I wanted to.

Again, in defence of the PebblePad designers, the step-by-step process encourages users to add more to their assets than they would have naturally done, I suspect.