The University of Edinburgh Offers Students and Staff Online Personal Learning System, PebblePad

Online, November 9, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Staff and students at the University of Edinburgh are now benefitting from access to award-winning online learning space PebblePad. All staff and 22,000 undergraduate students have access to their own PebblePad accounts which are hosted by Pebble Learning in a software as a service model. Established over 400 years ago, the University is one of the UK's largest and Scotland's number one research university .

PebblePad was trialled in 2008/09 with 14 different groups of students varying from 12 to 214 participants, with all pilot groups reporting positive overall experiences. Testers included students from the MSc Management Research & Development; Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice; MSc International Animal Health; MSc Advanced Nursing Practice; and MSc E-learning. The University had previously experimented with WebCT's ePortfolio and the Open Source Portfolio (OSP).

The University's Robert Chmielewski explains, "We strive to be innovative in our teaching methods and introduced PebblePad as a leading edge online learning space, the educational equivalent to MySpace or Facebook, tools with which students are already very familiar. Students are successfully transferring the collaborative skills gained through social networking to an educational context."

Students are encouraged to use PebblePad for reflection and to share work and thoughts with peers and tutors. The presentational e-portfolios, called Webfolios, allow learners to represent their skills and achievements in very flexible and creative ways - or according to a tutor's particular requirements. With Action Plans users can follow a template to describe what they want to achieve and to plan out how to get there. PebblePad also has a 'MyEdGE Graduate Attributes profile' and a research student skills profile which students can use to help develop their skills outside their core academic subject.

Pebble Learning won a prestigious international elearning award with the University of Wolverhampton in May 2010. The Platinum Learning Impact Award for Global Learning Excellence - the highest available - was secured at the IMS Global Learning Impact Awards held in Long Beach, California. The Learning Impact Awards (LIA) are designed to recognise and honour the use of technology to support learning worldwide. The award recognised the outstanding and innovative ways in which PebblePad helps students, teachers and professionals to develop their learning, reflective skills and personal development planning.

For more information on PebblePad, visit www.pebblepad.co.uk, call +44 (0)1952 288300 or email [email protected].
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Notes to editors:

About PebblePad http://www.pebblepad.co.uk
PebblePad is an innovative personal learning system designed to support any learner, learning at any level. Its unique interface hints at the user friendly system which allows users to build and share a broad collection of items related to their studies, personal development, continuing professional development or any event of personal significance.

For more information contact Pebble Learning: [email protected] or phone 01952 288300

About Pebble Learning Ltd
Pebble Learning, with its blend of technological and pedagogic expertise, offers a wide range of services designed to help the UK educational community develop expertise in the use of innovative personal learning technologies to meet the challenges and realize the opportunities elearning offers.

For more information contact Pebble Learning: [email protected] or phone 01952 288300

About The University of Edinburgh
http://www.ed.ac.uk/