Allows users to upload files directly into their asset store. PebblePad supports any kind of file including video, sound and animation.

Allows users to record skills, competencies and other attributes which they feel are significant or which are required for the purposes of assessment, accreditation or validation. Users can describe their ability, skill or competency in their own words or copy an official description of the attributes being recorded.

Allows users to record any successful endeavour which is of significance to them. Any achievement which might be useful in the future as part of a webfolio or CV should be recorded. Users can describe achievements in their own words or include copies of official documentation as evidence of achievement, for example, transcripts, certificates, photos of trophies or medals, etc.

Allows users to create action plans designed to help them achieve a particular outcome or goal. Action plans can be created by users to guide personal or professional development or as part of an activity or project planning process. The action plan tool includes a ‘steps to success’ function where larger goals can be broken down into smaller steps, and a SWOT analysis section.

Allows users to record any significant event or experience, normally directly related to their personal or professional development. This might include attendance at a workshop or training course, presentation of a paper at a conference, or involvement in a project. Activity assets can provide useful evidence towards an overall development record, project work, appraisal or review, as well as providing a record against which progress can be monitored.

Allows users to record any event or experience which is of significance to them. Any experience which might be useful in the future as part of a webfolio or CV should be recorded.

Allows users to record details of significant meetings with others, such as tutors, careers advisers, or fellow students working on a project. As with action plans, meetings includes a facility for recording outcomes and for planning how and when the outcomes will be addressed.

Allows users to record journal entries, structured reflections, significant incidents, ideas or notes. PebblePad provides a range of options for recording thoughts from a simple single stage process to more detailed structures to guide users through the recording process. Postings to a Blog are also saved as separate Thought assets, allowing them to be reused or linked with other assets.

An optional Asset type which allows users to bring together items they would like to use to demonstrate activity during a given period. Activity Logs display as a single page that lists entries in date order. Any normal asset can be sent from the PebblePad asset store to an Activity Log except for files, Webfolios, Blogs and CVs. Multiple Activity Logs can be created for different purposes such as appraisal and working towards standards.

The Activity Log enables users to indicate how many hours (or PD points) must be completed and as items are added the Activity Log will display the number of required hours remaining so that progress can be monitored.

Blogs consist of a single webpage made up of chronological journal-type entries. Blogs are valuable to gather and share ideas or to quickly record events or activities without using the structure of other PebblePad wizards. Blogs are created, published and shared in the same way as all other assets and they can be added as a page in a Webfolio. Users can post entries straight to Blogs or post existing or new assets to them. Entries posted straight to a blog are also saved as individual ‘Thoughts’ in the asset store.

There are three types of blogs in PebblePad. The first is an individual blog, which is personal to the user. Unlike other external blogs on the internet this remains private to the user until they decide to share it (like other PebblePad assets). A tutor can set up a blog for a course through a Gateway. This is a collaborative blog and is known as a ‘Resource Blog’. Finally, a ‘Tutor Blog’ is used by members of staff on a Gateway to communicate on such issues as the assessment processes, validation, and plagiarism, and is useful as a tracking mechanism for external assessors/validators.

The CV Builder allows users to create an electronic CV by drawing upon information already entered into the ‘About Me’ tool in PebblePad, as well as other assets from the asset store. The CV content is customisable with users able to select which information from About Me to include, eg. personal details, qualifications, employment, references, referees, etc. Users can create multiple CVs that can be shared in the same way as any other PebblePad asset. CVs can also be sent to a word processing package, which enables layout and design changes to be made.

The Webfolio is PebblePad’s presentational ePortfolio tool. It is best thought of as an evidence-based website that allows users to present stories about themselves, their work, or about their learning and development. They can contain any number of pages which can be added to, edited or deleted at any time. Pages can also contain links to other assets within the asset store to give a rich picture of activity. A wide choice of templates, colour schemes and image options allow the user to customise each webfolio they create.

Gateways can be thought of as institutional spaces where assets can be published for viewing by other users such as tutors or peers. Different user groups are recognised within a gateway – administrator, owner, tutor, user, and reviewer. Gateway access is controlled by permissions so that on some gateways users may be able to publish assets but not view other people’s work while on other gateways users may be able to view each other’s work. Different permissions can be given to each user group within each gateway. Gateways can support a variety of uses including assessment, mentoring, group projects, and sharing items with a group of people.

Profiles are self–evaluation questionnaires that allow users to audit their current knowledge, skills and abilities. Profiles are often used to record and evidence progress towards Graduate Attributes or professional standards or competencies. Users complete a Profile by responding to questions and ability statements with scales ranging from 1–2 through 1–9 and with short text and long–text answers. Users can also be asked to attach evidence to support their claims or create action plans to identify steps to improvement. Once completed, profiles are saved as assets within the asset store and can be displayed as part of a Webfolio or CV.

Profiles are created within the Profile Builder tool. Institutions can assign Profile Builder permissions to staff that require this capacity. Profiles can be published to individual users or published to groups of users through a gateway. Reports of profile responses can also be generated.

Forms can be created to support any type of activity, for example, a form to reflect on a particular experience or a form which helps develop thinking for further work. Forms scaffold user responses through short and long text fields, multiple–choice, rating scales, and multi–column tables. Users can also be asked to attach evidence to support their responses. Once completed forms are saved as assets within the asset store.

Forms are created within the Form Builder tool. Institutions can assign Form Builder permissions to staff that require this capacity. Forms can be published to individual users or published to groups of users through a gateway. If a form and its responses are published through a gateway, a report of responses can be generated.

Allows users to identify assets as belonging to a particular group or theme, eg. education, employment, recreation, etc. A number of default tags are available and new tags can be created. Tags can be used to locate assets and aggregate assets, eg. all assets with a particular tag can be added to a webfolio page.

Sharing is the normal way a user allows another person to view one or more assets. It is not possible for anyone, including administrators, to view the entire asset store of another user without knowing their username and password – which should obviously always be kept secret.

When sharing the user chooses the level of access the recipient will have – as well as the length of time an item is shared for. As well as sharing with other PebblePad users in the organisation it is also possible to share with ‘external’ people such as potential employers or external mentors.

Publishing describes the process of sending assets to a Gateway where they can be viewed by others, typically for assessment. Although users have control over what they send to a gateway they do not have control over who sees their asset or how it is handled on the gateway. The gateway ‘owner’ determines the membership and permissions on a gateway – and needs to do so in order to facilitate organisational processes such as assessment.

Publishing is actually a linking process which allows those with the correct permissions to follow links from the gateway to assets submitted to it. This process allows work–in–progress to be published to a gateway and for those with the required permissions to be able to view an up–to–date version of the work and provide on–going feedback as it develops.

The ‘Send to Web’ feature allows users to publish their work allowing others to access it without the need of a password. There is still some protection in that PebblePad assets cannot be found by Internet search tools such as Google unless they are permanently linked to from another static web page.

The End Pad can be thought of as the final stage of the evidencing process as the pad contains a number of additional options to help you view, share and distribute your evidence from one easy screen. It is from the End Pad that you can share you assets with other people or publish it to a Gateway. The same pad enables assets to be sent to Blogs, Activity Logs or the Web; it also enables you to easily link other assets together to create an audit trail of evidence or to write a review of the asset, perhaps as a result of receiving some comments or feedback.

The CV builder tool uses the information contained within About Me to create custom interactive CVs specific to you. The About Me pages are broken down into 14 sections covering topics such as qualifications, personal statements, publications and hobbies. Over time as more information is added specific elements of About Me are chosen to construct the relevant CVs.