PebblePad:The research student perspective

Lucy Cave l.m.cave@aston.ac.uk

My use of PebblePad

Part-time PhD in Pedagogical Research and full-time job as a Research Executive at Aston UniversitySelf-taught and independent use of PebblePadPebblePad is a helpful tool for recording my thoughts, reflections and research notesPebblePad serves as a repository for useful links in my research area

62 assets

Stage one: initial use of PebblePad

Reflective journal – used as and when I could find the time,

provides a chronology of my thoughts for the PhD

Stage two: recording meetings, events and recording research notes

Used as a medium for recording my notes and action points from supervisory meetings

References and research notes noted, used in combination with EndNote

Stage three: aggregating my assets

Creating a blog to document the process of developing the PhD research design

Stage four: uploading and sharing documents

Useful for documenting feedback from supervisory team

The benefits of sharing assets

Feedback – two supervisors will often have different opinions, therefore PebblePad provides a dialogue and summary of their commentsTime between supervisions is used effectivelyInterim meetings are not always possible, but both supervisors can be involved through PebblePad comments facility

Visual representation of research activity

Stand alone ‘thoughts’ need to be tied together to form a webfolio

Research-intensive months over the summer, due to reduced activity in the University (‘day job’)

Overall benefits and limitations

Particularly useful when working remotelyEasy to ‘dip in and out’ as a part-time student Serves as a repository for my research notes and useful linksProvides a chronology of my thought processes and development of the research Ideal for sharing my work with a team of supervisorsReduces paperwork

Concerns over security Need to have access to the internet