This is the fourth post in a series by the CPD Team outlining some of our thinking in preparation for the new Glow platform. As a result, a small number of the links below point to examples on Glow, so apologies in advance if you are not a Glow user!

One of the interesting discoveries in the development of CPDCentral on Glow (which is based partly on Microsoft Sharepoint) was the discovery of the ‘Me’ filter. This allowed us to create parts of CPD communities that reflect back what I have shared in that community. A good example of this is the CPDMe page on CPDCentral. The CPDMe area has a number of uses for the reflective practitioner, for example:

• keeps you on track with intentions
• records your community activities for further reflection in the PRD (professional review and development) process
• helps you find stuff that you know you have shared!

To take this a bit further, filters by ‘us’ also feature heavily in the existing CPDCentral. If I join a community, I can easily see who else has joined, shared or added intentions. Just follow the menu links on any of the communities on CPDCentral for examples of this in action (or watch the slideshow below).

Of course the definition of ‘us’ is anyone who signs up for that community. Individuals have no control over who joins them in the journey which is not necessarily a bad thing if you are a firm believer in the value of serendipitous CPD, like I am!

However, what would be really great is to add the concept of following or friending (as happens in Twitter and Facebook) to the community model on the new Glow.

In other words, if I want to see what is being shared by individuals I value, I can do so. That, combined with the ability to track keywords (eg #hwb for Health & Wellbeing) would mean the ability to create a genuinely personal, and more effective, one-stop shop for CPD.