Each country has its own visual sign language used by the Deaf community; in the UK this is British Sign Language (BSL). In 1994 the University of Wolverhampton created the 1st Degree course in Europe for Interpreting (BSL/English) this course has a very high employment record. Before this research students used video cameras to record work, physically having to bring tapes in for tutorials and feedback. This research brought together an ePortfolio system – PebblePad© and web cams to offer students the opportunity to record, reflect and connect their development in their own space and time and for staff to be able to provide relevant and appropriate formative feedback. Within the University of Wolverhampton all students and staff have an ePortfolio system - PebblePad©. The software allows users to build collections of items related to their studies, personal development, continuing professional development or any event. Those items can then be published or shared with individuals, groups or to a public audience. The software promotes reflection and gathering of evidence, any digital file can be linked to the software giving the ability to add such things as video, images and sound. However, the majority of students and staff use mainly text and pictures this research has tested the ability to connect moving images through web cams. This paper will give a comprehensive view of the technical, pedagogic and support issues raised by this project.

This research is the first stage in a longitudinal study of mature women learners from three feeder colleges to the University of Wolverhampton in three 'disciplines', nursing, teaching and psychology. The research questions I will address eventually are: to what extent have the aspirations of the women learners been met? What is the context in which these aspirations have been lived out? How can this inform institutional policy and strategy in the context of widening participation? Preliminary findings indicate that these women choose to take degree courses in vocational subjects because they see job opportunities in these fields, they are carers and therefore have personal experience and/or they have missed out on further and higher education earlier in their lives. The institution has developed various initiatives to raise the aspirations of these potential students particularly in the local area. This paper explores whether and how these students' aspirations have informed these initiatives.