How to use PebblePad

As a Student

Most students use PebblePad as part of their course curriculum. Their engagement with the system is then guided by the types of learning and/or professional development activities offered by the course. These usually involve having to demonstrate progress and development over time by recording learning experiences as evidence. Users will often be asked to create one or more presentations that describe their learning journey and developing competence.

Some students choose to use PebblePad for their self-reflection, presence online, etc. and continue to use PebblePad after they have left the University. In these contexts PebblePad is also used to document independent learning and skill development, and may be used for other things like reflection and journaling, project management, research documentation, and professional portfolios. Most often, students' interactions with the platform are designed which requires them to update their records regularly in order to systematically build a comprehensive collection of evidence and reflections.

As a Tutor

Most tutors start to use PebblePad for one or more of the following reasons:

• To introduce digital portfolios, blogging, logging, etc. into the curriculum
• To support or facilitate reflective learning
• To pursue a more student-lead approach to teaching and learning
• To support the evidencing of competencies over time
• To be able to offer support materials or assessment in ways which are not supported by the VLE

PebblePad is institutionally provided but learner owned

• Each student/staff member has their own personal Pebble+ account via which to create records of learning and experience
• Specific records can be then shared with ATLAS (part of PebblePad) where the formal assessment processes are managed  

Scaffolding and reflection

• PebblePad provides ways of creating bespoke templates using its built-in template creator tool
• The templates can be arranged into collections to support more complex bundles of evidence
• PebblePad templates can accommodate text, media, etc. 

Live links

• Once submitted, tutors are able to view the latest versions of their students' work without the need for re-sharing or re-submitting.
• Assessors can view work as it is developing, enabling useful formative feedback at any stage.

Alumni Accounts

• All students graduating from the University are able to apply for their free Alumni Account, and take all of their work with them once they have left