Educational Technology & Society 3(1) 2000 ISSN 1436-4522 77 $:HEEDVHGSHUVRQDODQGSURIHVVLRQDOGHYHORSPHQWWRROWRSURPRWHOLIH ORQJOHDUQLQJZLWKLQWKHFRQVWUXFWLRQLQGXVWU\ Alan P. Maddocks Department of Civil and Building Engineering Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Tel: +44 1509 222602 A.P.Maddocks@lboro.ac.uk Willy D. Sher Department of Civil and Building Engineering Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Tel: +44 1509 222894 W.D.Sher@lboro.ac.uk Andrew Wilson Director, Staff Development Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Tel: +44 1509 222380 D.A.Wilson@lboro.ac.uk ABSTRACT The Department of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University, in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Building, are currently collaborating on a two-year project, ‘Recording Achievement in Construction’ designed to encourage personal and professional development. The project, funded by the Department for Education and Employment, aims to promote a culture that will enable and support construction students and graduates to monitor, build and reflect upon their own personal development within the construction discipline. This paper outlines the rationale for the project and explains the reasoning behind the design and development of the RAPID (Recording Achievement for Professional and Individual Development) Progress File (Loughborough University, 1999). Furthermore, this paper outlines how this tool is currently being implemented within the Higher Education community, the lessons learned to date, and offers recommendations as to how it can be most effectively integrated with existing educational structures and practices. We conclude that the RAPID Progress File is the kind of personal and professional development tool that can assist and encourage individual learners develop a life-long perspective on the learning process. Keywords Recording achievement, Rapid progress file, Skills, Competencies, Professional development Overview In the UK the Dearing Review of Higher Education (Dearing, 1997) recommended that institutions of higher education should seek to develop a Progress File that would enable students to monitor, build and reflect upon their personal developments. In response the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) have funded a number of development projects (DfEE, 1998) to explore a number of approaches to encourage both undergraduates and post graduate students to reflect and record their personal development during their academic and non-academic activities. As one of these funded projects, the ‘Recording Achievement in Construction’ project promotes these developments within higher education, and places them within the context of lifelong learning within the Construction Industry. Rationale The Recording Achievement in Construction project aims to further the ideals of developing reflective learning skills by encouraging the adoption of an on-going model of development from school, through higher education