Personalizing Competencies: Helping Students Envision and Reflect Upon the Demands of their Professional Futures

Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.Northeastern UniversityGraduate School of Education

Outline• Competency Warm-up Exercise• Competencies and Personalized Learning• Example Assignment• Competency Application Exercise• Example Assignment Results• Applying the Ideas to Your Own Practice

Competency: Working Definition

Competency Clusters = Expertise

Warm Up ExerciseThink about your field and specific people (colleagues, collaborators, supervisors/visees).

•Who are the experts? Who do you most respect the most?•What has been their most prominent or influential work? What are the markers of excellence in this work?•What makes these people and their work so great? What are their most prominent characteristics? What are their capabilities and skills?

Warm Up ExerciseNow think of a specific people from your present and past who you would describe as “beginners” in the profession. Focus on people who are capable in general, but newbies.

•What were the gaps in their understanding and abilities?

•If you mentored, coached, or supervised the person, what areas did you focus on the most?

Warm Up ExerciseUse your notes to articulate key competencies in your profession.

1.Group discrete competencies into thematic clusters (headings).2.Elaborate with examples under the headings.

For ExampleContextual Cognizance•Conducts environmental scans to identify needs and resources, analyze gaps and strengths, and discover partners and opportunities.•Demonstrates responsiveness to organizational culture, including the capacity to negotiate with others and manage change.

Warm Up Exercise5 Minutes•Drawing on you observations about the difference between experts/novices, use the handout to author a competencies framework for your profession.

10 Minutes•Share with your neighbor to compare and revise

Brief Debrief• What did you identify?• Observations, questions?

Competency Controversies

Competencies: HopesOutcomes Beyond Seat Time Multifaceted, Student-Focused

Competencies: FearsFragmented a la Carte Learning Standards/Assessment-Centric

Competency Process as anOpportunity for Inquiry and Formation

Heidi Elmendorf, Georgetown

Professional Competency Model (PCM) Case Study Example

Assignment Context

• Introduced in EDU6319 How People Learn• Fully online course • eLearning program gateway and Higher

Education Administration elective• PCM revisited at Midpoint & Capstone in

eLearning

Phase I: Professional Landscape Survey

• What do my “dream job” employers want?

• What are the implications of recent research for my professional aspirations?

• What pressing challenges in the world are relevant to this profession?

• Who are the visionaries & what are they saying about future directions?

Phase I: Professional Landscape SurveyEvidence Sources•Advertisements“Dream” Job

•Peer-ReviewedResearch

•White PapersChallenges &Opportunities

•Blogs/Opinion PiecesVisionaries & Future directions

Phase II: Competency Comparison• This is what your

faculty have identified as essential in your field.

• How does it square with your own background research?

• What else is important to you and your professional vision for yourself?

Phase III: Self-Assessment• Personalize

– Identify additional competencies

• Assess & Seek Evidence– Rate current proficiency– Support assertions with

artifacts & examples

Phase IV: PCM Narrative in ePortfolio• Reflect

Surprises, Patterns

• Self-RepresentExpertise, Growth Areas

• Envision Opportunities- Course Project Topics- Electives Selection- Informal Learning- Workplace Learning

ExampleAreas for improvement:•Needs to strengthen computer skills and knowledge of graphic design. •Experience with training, but needs more experience with Instructional Design.

Strategy:•Project Management elective•Summer ‘15 self-paced learning with Lynda.com in lieu of coursework•Fall ‘15 internship with NEU Global Network

Your TurnRevisit the competencies you identified during the warm-up. Select one competency (something you haven’t completely mastered).

•Rate yourself of the scale of novice to expert.

•Identify at least one example of your work that could be used as evidence to support that assertion.

•Write an explanation. Also consider opportunities for improvement. What specific experiences would help you develop your proficiency?

ExampleContextual Cognizance•Conducts environmental scans to identify needs and resources, analyze gaps and strengths, and discover partners and opportunities.•Demonstrates responsiveness to organizational culture, including the capacity to negotiate with others and manage change.

Self-Rating, Evidence, Opportunities•Rating: 8 out of 10 (based on national award for 2011 M.Ed. redesign)•Evidence: Environmental scan and M.Ed. redesign documents•Reflection and Opportunities: Leading change without official authority was the greatest challenge. Could seek out professional development opportunities to deepen understanding of leadership and improve skills.

Your TurnRevisit the competencies you identified during the warm-up. Select one competency you haven’t completely mastered.

•Rate yourself of the scale of novice to expert.

•Identify at least one work sample or story that could be used as evidence to support your assertion.

•Write an explanation. Also consider opportunities for improvement. What specific experiences would help you develop your proficiency?

PCM AssessmentCriteria Definition of Excellence

Wiki Pre-work

• Draws on all sources to summarize profession’s landscape• Notes connections, contradictions, surprises among the sources• Describes potential future direction of the field

Introduction • Positions professional aspirations within professional landscape • Describes requirements of professionals in the field• Envisions field’s future and ramifications for needed competencies

Competencies • Provides personalized working definition and clarification of competencies

• Identifies additional competencies specific to personal vision

Ratings • Range of ratings indicates the author has sincerely considered personal level of expertise

• Ratings are grounded in evidence (examples from practice)

Summary • Describes patterns of strength and areas for development in ratings • Considers formal/informal opportunities to pursue development

Indicates genuine insight gained from the exercise

Evidence of Assignment ImpactCarolyn HarrisM.Ed. in Higher Education Administration Program

30 years to complete B.A. Defines education as a “work in progress”

Professional purpose is to understand “how a student defines personal and academic success”

Carolyn’s PCM Highlights

Strengths•Explores inner workings of departments other than own

•Has ideas for designing new systems and processes

Growth Opportunities•Confidence speaking to groups

•Tends to accept methods put forth by others when believes there are more effective ways

Professional Landscape: Observations and Vision•Students need to feel engaged with the advisor, the process, and the results•As opportunities for earning a degree have transformed, academic advising also requires transformation•What should or could this look like for fully online and older learners?

Evidence of Impact

Chance Favors the Prepared Mind

- Lois Pasteur

Debrief• What did you gain from the experience?• What was most challenging?• How might this firsthand experience influence your

approach to engaging students in self-assessment and reflection?

• What opportunities in your program do you see for extending the process of student reflection and strategic professional development?

Final ThoughtsWork with competencies should

•Engage students in inquiry & visionary thinking

•Create opportunities for generative self-critique

•Be interpreted, applied, & connected

•Promote dialogue on possibilities for the future self

“I believe exposing my weaknesses now is the only way to turn them into strengths later.”

“It was instrumental in aligning my previous work experience, educational goals, qualifications, projects, and skills into an integrated assessment of my professional strengths and limitations.”

“This is an exercise in self-regulated learning [that] gave me a an opportunity to reflect on my academic goals in relation to my professional goals.”

Thank You!

Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.Graduate School of Education

Northeastern Universityg.matthews-denatale@neu.edu

This workshop is based on a presentation given at the 2015 AAEEBL conference on ePortfolios in higher education. I wish to

thank the Northeastern CPS Faculty Fund for the financial support to attend that conference.