Competencies for DE professionals

Competencies of DE professionals:
trends, opportunities and challenges
Stella Porto
Inter-American Development Bank
ICDE'2015 - Sun City, SA 1

Agenda
• Do we still need DE experts?
– Trends and challenges
• Competency domains
• The spectrum of DE (a.k.a. learning)
professional profiles
• Identifying our contextual needs

DO WE NEED ODL EXPERTISE?
Discussing the need for ODL experts within the current
trends of the ODL landscape.

Do we still need DE experts?
What did Tony Bates just say?
“There is no (long-term) future in
being an online learning specialist”
http://www.tonybates.ca/2015/09/07/is-there-a-future-in-online-learning/

The justification…
“online learning is becoming increasingly an
integral part of teaching and learning”
“we will need instructor who have the skills
to decide when and how to use online
learning”

But is this true?
The questioning…
– Is specializing in online learning, not actually
knowing anything about learning?
– Should we just be ‘learning specialists’? If so, how
different are such competencies?
– Can instructors have all those competencies?
(considering all the existing scenarios of learning)

Teacher
in CS
the 1st
online
experience:
"Aha!"
Expertise
in DE
New job
because of
DE
My short story as
example...

Access & Scale
• OERs/OEPs,
MOOCs
• Just-in-time
• Outsourcing
Personalization
• Adaptive
Learning
• PLEs, e-
portfolios
Rapid change
• Innovation
• Competition
• Mobile
Trends &
Challenges
The landscape

Acceptance
Tech
Availability
Lifelong
learning
NEW
expert
Main drivers of
profile change...

COMPETENCY & DOMAINS
Looking into the domains of ODL experts and unveiling
competencies

Defining competency
Domain
Competency
Behavior

Defining competency
Domain
• Set of competencies that
define a content domain
Competency
• Cluster of related behaviors
Behavior
• Attitudes, skills, and knowledge
required for competence

ACTIVITY # 1
Make a list of at least 3 competencies that you believe are
essential to the job you do? (ODL related) & Share

Competency domains
Mgmt.
AdminICT
Consult.
Research
Instruct.
Design
Pedagogy

Competencies per domain
Instruct.
Design
Apply pertinent principles of
instructional design to develop online
curriculum
Conduct learning needs
assessment
Develop authentic assessments that
provide effective learning measurements

Pedagogy
Apply pertinent learning theories in a
given e-learning scenario
Employ existing proven techniques
for learner engagement online
Devise a variety of learning activities to
accommodate different learning styles

ICT
Test and report on new learning
technologies and their
appropriateness
Develop an integrated learning
environment with a variety of
existing learning tools
Discuss issues of access, security, and
scalability of emerging technologies

Consult.
Research
Reflect on the role of research and
theory in ongoing distance learning
practice
Explore foundations of distance
education and how it supports
current practices
Devise research methodology to collect
reliable data on distance learning
projects

Mgmt.
Admin
Develop strategic plans for e-
learning initiative
Evaluate an e-learning program
or project
Identify efficiency issues in the
management of an e-learning project

ACTIVITY # 2
How do the competencies you created fit into the
framework? What would be the best alignment? Would you
change the framework? Let's share.

BUILDING PROFILES
Devising professional profiles for ODL experts based on
competency domains

Role #1: An Instructional Designer (part of a
team)
Development of a "learning object"
Managing course development
Development of assessment tools

Building profiles
Mgmt.
AdminICT Consult.
Research
Instruct.
Design
Pedagogy

Role #2: A Faculty Member / Tutor
Teaching a DE professional development
class
Teaching and Mentoring other tutors
Training trainers in a HR unit inside a
corporation

Building profiles
Mgmt.
Admin
ICT
Consult.
Research
Instruct.
Design Pedagogy

Role #3: An e-learning unit/division manager
Creating the distance learning division of a
small college
Planning the expansion and transition of
DE 2nd generation to e-learning
Managing the distance training of a
company

Building profiles
Mgmt.
Admin
ICT Consult.
Research
Instruct.
Design
Pedagogy

ACTIVITY # 3
Attempt to draw the circles of each of the domains according
to your own profile in your organization & Share

Contextual needs for experts
• Profiles will depend on…
– Landscape (overall trends, local trends, …)
– Specific industry needs
– ODL ‘maturity’ within a specific organization
– Size of the organization
– Quality standards and focus

ACTIVITY # 4
What is the major need of your organization in terms of
expertise? How would you describe this profile with the
framework? Try then listing a few competencies for each of
these... Is this one professional or more? Let's share.

Final remarks
• The profile of an ODL expert changes
according to trends in the field and contextual
needs
– Becoming a learning expert given the blur
between modalities
– Ability to make strategic decisions that involve a
variety of learning modalities
– Fundamental pillars in the field are still key

Thanks!
Any questions?
stellap@iadb.org
http://www.slideshare.net/sporto/

Competencies for DE professionals

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Competencies for DE professionals

Similar to Competencies for DE professionals (20)

More from Stella Porto

More from Stella Porto (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Competencies for DE professionals