Personal Development

Planning (PDP) What is PDP? …. 1

Identifying opportunities .... 2
Personal Development Planning, or PDP helps learners think, Practising PDP.... 2
not only about the learning that has already taken place, but also Using RAPID ….4
planning for the future. PDP is a great way to build on all the
opportunities university life has to offer, but it is up to you as an
individual to decide what you want to get out of PDP and how to
set about doing this. This Advice Sheet will help you to:

• Recognise what is involved in PDP

• Identify opportunities presented to you
• Practise techniques to support PDP through action planning
• Employ a PDP tool, for example the electronic tool, RAPID

What is PDP?

Personal Development Planning can be defined as a process that helps you to think
about your own learning, performance and/or achievements and to plan for your
personal, educational and career development.

PDP, therefore, makes you aware of how you are progressing and this awareness brings a
number of benefits. For example, it will be easier to identify to tutors areas of concern and it
will help you to demonstrate to prospective employers that, through PDP, you have acquired
strategies that make you a desirable, well motivated and focussed individual. Furthermore,
PDP processes can motivate you when your interest starts to wane.

The main PDP processes that help learners think about their learning and to plan for the future
usually include:

• Reflection – pulling different thoughts and ideas together to make sense for a particular
purpose
• Recording – thoughts, ideas, experiences; you can keep records in written form or use
audio, video, etc.
• Action planning – setting out a plan means more likely achievement of a goal
• Executing – carrying out activities referred to in the action plan
• Evaluating – making sense of what you have been doing

However PDP is presented and practised, the responsibility is on you as an individual to plan your
learning, to act on the plans and to generate evidence of what you have achieved.

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Identifying Opportunities

PDP isn’t only relevant to your studies – extra-curricular activities and part-time work also
contribute to your skills. Opportunities to practise PDP may come through:

• Modules you are taking, particularly skills-based modules. Make a special effort w
where modules highlight areas where you would like to improve, e.g. numeracy or
IT skills
• Tutorial sessions, particularly personal tutorials, where you can discuss your
progress with a tutor
• Leisure activities: perhaps you are an active member of a club or society
• Extra-curricular activities: for example, being a course or hall representative
• Part-time work: where a range of skills will be acquired and/or developed

Opportunities to practise PDP might already be timetabled into your studies in an obvious
way, for example, through a study skills module or study skills tutorial. Sometimes
opportunities arise in less obvious ways, for example, through a project or extended essay,
where you need to take stock of what you already know, what you need to know and plan
how you will proceed.

Practising PDP

PDP processes should help you to write things down and develop a clear picture of where
you want to go. Being able to reflect on what you are doing through your writing is a key skill
central to the notion of PDP. Reflection is a form of deep and focussed thinking and
essential to critical thinking and self-assessment – both important features of university level
study.

To practise PDP it helps to have a structure to guide you. The following steps provide a
useful framework, with reflection needed at every stage:

Step1 - Take a Skills Audit

This is a useful starting point for PDP because it acts as a ‘stocktaking’
exercise to systematically analyse your strengths and weaknesses.

You could also do a SWOT analysis – a common problem solving method which summarises
your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats on a grid.

strengths opportunities

weaknesses threats

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Once you become aware of where you are now, you can think about where you want to be
and how you will get there through action planning.

Step 2- Write an Action Plan

Action Planning helps you to identify and set targets, documenting a thought out strategy. A
well written action plan will be clear in its intentions, unambiguous and focussed. A useful
rule of thumb is to ask yourself if it is SMART, i.e.

• Specific: e.g. ‘I will identify and practise good time management techniques to
reach my project deadline steadily and without panic’, rather than ‘I will learn how
to manage my time’

• Measurable: e.g. I will set myself a weekly schedule of things to do

• Achievable: e.g. I know there are workshops and books on time management
and I will use these to identify good practice

• Realistic: e.g. I know I have some free time every Thursday morning and I will
use this time to work on my techniques

• Time-Bound: e.g. I will work towards the project deadline, setting weekly targets

You are recommended to set yourself a few clear goals, ranking them by preference, and
then set clear sub-goals. These sub-goals will help you to measure your progress en route
and help you to consider the various steps ahead so that you won’t be tempted to set
unattainable targets.

It is often useful to talk through goal setting with another person, who may help you to think
things through and maybe pick up on something you may have missed. Your personal tutor
is a good person to ask.

Step 3 - Keep a Record

Auditing your skills and action planning will themselves generate written documentation. You
also need to document which skills you’ve developed and how you have evaluated this. It is
important to keep written records for a number of reasons:

 helps you to measure your progress

 provides information to draw upon when applying for jobs
 offers a source of information to share with your tutor
 helps you to think about how plans could be improved

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 Using RAPID

RAPID is an electronic PDP tool. It is interactive and can be

used to keep personal records of information and evidence of
skills competence in a range of areas.

RAPID stands for Recording Academic, Professional and Individual Development. It was
developed at Loughborough University and there are a number of versions – some for
different subject disciplines. You can see a list of all the versions on the website -
[Link]

The majority of students will use the generic version of RAPID: RAPID Express. There is a
tailored version for engineering students called RAPID Engineering. Another version (RAPID
PGR) can be used by postgraduate research students.

There are two key elements of RAPID: PACE and SPEED.

PACE:
Personal Information, Achievements, Career Management, & Evidence Repository. Use
PACE to store information that will form the basis of your CV.

SPEED:
Survey – Identifying skills development needs, opportunities for skills development, skills
auditing
Plan – setting goals, identifying tasks and producing action plans
Execute – Carrying out activities and monitoring your progress
Evaluate – Reviewing outcomes and evaluating effectiveness of process, reflecting upon
your learning experience
Document – Recording development of skills competence and storing this evidence

All study advice sheets are also available to view and download on the following website:
[Link]
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[Link]