competency and long life training in Software Engineenring

1. Professional Competency
&
Continuing Professional
Development (CPD)

2. Introduction to Continuing Professional
Development (CPD)
• Requires all professionals to take personal responsibility for
the process of updating their own ability to understand the
range of topics relevant to their area of competence.
• "Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the
systematic maintenance, improvement and broadening of
relevant knowledge and skills, and the development of these
qualities necessary for the successful carrying out of
professional duties throughout a software engineer or
information technology professional's career. In this it is
aimed at enhancing individual worth and thus corporate
performance."

3. Demand for CPD
• The community has higher dependence on software
engineering and information technology professionals
• Many large scale information technology infrastructure have
failed badly by any standard
• Rapid change in technologies
• New technical skills of software engineering and information
technology professionals become outdated soon
• Traditionally, software engineering and information
technology professionals are not good at inter-personal
communications
• An important drive to Professionalism and Ethics

4. Introduction to CPD
• Continuing Professional Development is an ongoing
necessity in the ever changing technological world in which
we live.
• The practicing professional software engineers and
information technology professionals should aim to remain
competent throughout their working careers so that they
can properly carry out their various duties.
• To this end software engineers and information technology
professionals need to take opportunities to update their
depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise and to
develop those personal qualities required to fulfil their roles
in industry and in society.

5. Introduction to CPD
• CPD covers matters of direct technical relevance as well as
broader studies also of importance to the professionals in
the continuance of their careers such as
• communication,
• environmental matters,
• financial management,
• leadership skills,
• legal aspects,
• marketing,
• occupational safety & health and
• professional ethics.

6. Importance of CPD
• Competence (skills)
• Emphasis on learning
• Increased customer expectations
• Litigation (law suit, hearing, process)
• Standards
• Quality management
• Competitiveness

7. Importance of CPD
• Professional development has assumed great importance in
all sectors of education over the last few years
• Focus on higher standards and improving quality
• Demands of increasing accountability mean that every
professionals have an unprecedented need for ongoing
professional development
• Each sector has standards or ‘competences’ for the
assessment of performance

8. Old New
Character • Formal • Formal
• Informal
• Reflexive (automatic)
Funding • Ordinary budgets • Initiatives (enterprise)
• Special projects
Focus • Provider driven • Learner led
Structure • Segmented
• Competitive
• Age driven & selective
• Majority leave @ 16 or 18
• Integrated (joined)
• Collaborative (cooperative)
• All age & open to all
• Lifelong
Delivery • Teachers
• Classrooms
• Schools closed 70% of year
• Autonomous learners
• Networked learning
centers
• All day, all year 24/7
Old and new styles of delivering
“learning”

9. Overview
 Lifelong learning and the value
of continuous professional development (CPD):
Individual’s perspective
Employer’s perspective
Professional Association’s perspective

10. Individual’s Perspective
FROM
• Expectation of a “job for life”
• Develop a single specialist skill
• Vertical promotion
• “Keep your head down”
• Single employer (for entire
career)
• Careers planned
• Develop a skill during an initial
training period
TO
• Reality “no job is safe”
• Multiple skills required
• Horizontal / cross
movement
• “Innovative and take risks”
• Multiple employers
(collection of careers)
• Plan your own career
• Continuous lifelong learning

11. CPD Costs (The Individual)
• Costs of undertaking CPD
• Time – personal and professional
enhancement.
• Commitment – personal and
professional attitude and
behavioral changes
• Costs of NOT undertaking CPD
• Opportunity costs lost
• Potential loss of professional
standing
• Inability to compete with
fellow members of the
professional body

12. Employer’s Perspective
• Develop CPD policy of objectives that reflect business needs
• Document and record CPD activity
• Evaluate CPD
• Pay attention to the effective management of the learning
environment at work
• Measure the cost of professional development

13. CPD Costs (The Employer)
• Costs of undertaking CPD
• Time – hours / days
individual away from daily
tasks and cost of replacing
individual
• Potential loss of staff as
individual develops
• Costs of NOT undertaking CPD
• Opportunity costs lost
• Potential liability through
employees’ lack of
competence
• Loss of staff due to lack of
personal development
opportunity
• Loss of market share /
public support where
employees are not seen /
proven to be competent
• Potential inability to
compete in the market
against those organizations
whose employees are kept
up-to-date professionally

14. Professional association’s
Perceptions
•Issues considered important :
• Who should pay for CPD ?
• How do you measure true costs ?
• Should financial assistance be provided ?
• What is the role of CPD ?

15. CPD Costs
(The Professional Association)
• Costs of undertaking CPD
• Time – allocated to running
the scheme, creative
schedules and to supporting
members
• Commitment – follow
professional standards.
• Preparation and distribution
of guidelines / policies
• Provision / contracting to
provide actual CPD activities
• Issuing guidance / support
facilities
• Evaluating the policy and
individual members’ CPD
• Costs of NOT undertaking
CPD
• Opportunity costs lost
• Potential lost of standing
amongst the profession if
members not seen / proven
to be competent
• Lack of consistency of
standards among members

16. CPD Activities
•Technical talks
•Seminars
•Workshops
•Presentations
•Short courses
•Conferences
•Industrial attachment and visits
•Professional activates
•Publishing technical books

17. Practices of CPD
• Usually requires a minimum amount of CPD hours per
quarter / year
• CPD hours would be recognized or recognized by the
professional association
• CPD programs might be organized by the professional
association itself or programs of other associations they
recognized
• Failure of achieving the minimum amount of CPD hours
might be resulted with a downgrade or suspend of the
membership, that depends on the professional association’s
rules and regulations

18. Professional
Competency
&
Life-Long Learning

19. What is Lifelong Learning ?
• It is a cradle to grave process
• It includes formal, non-formal, informal, and incidental
learning
• It is learner driven
• It boosts confidence
• It provides cohesion

20. Why is Lifelong Learning
important ?
overview
• provides unity and connectedness
• provides completeness
• motivates new partnerships
• changes focus from institutions to learners and learning
• boosts competitiveness
• improves quality of life
• reduces unemployment
• promotes cultural development
• reduces barriers
• reduces inequality

21. Characteristics of a Learning
Society
• Learning is accepted as a continuing activity throughout life
• Learners take responsibility for their own progress
• Assessment confirms progress rather than brands failure
• Capability, person and shared values, team-working are recognized equally
with the pursuit of knowledge
• Learning is a partnership between students, parents, teachers, employers
and the community who all work together to improve performance
• Everyone accepts some responsibility for the learning of others
• Men, women, the disabled and minority groups have equal access to
learning opportunities
• Learning is seen as creative, rewarding and enjoyable
• Learning is outward-looking, mind-opening and promotes tolerance,
respect, and understanding of other cultures, creeds, races and traditions
• Learning is frequently celebrates individually, in families, in the community
and in the wider world.

22. Three Dimensions of Lifelong
Learning
1 - Personal fulfillment for individuals
• Personal growth
• Love of learning
• Knowledge, skills and attitudes
• Employability
• Equity

23. Three Dimensions of Lifelong
Learning (Cont’d)
2 - Economic development of districts, regions and nations
• Innovation
• Competitiveness
• Productivity
• Knowledge Economy
• Ecological integrity
• Sustainability

24. Three Dimensions of Lifelong
Learning (Cont’d)
3 - Social development of communities
• Caring citizenship
• Quality of life
• Active participation
• Cultural richness
• Inclusion

25. The Necessity for Lifelong Learning
• As we enter the 21st century we face an array of changes:
• Economic changes
• Social changes
• Technological changes
• It is an established fact that society is changing.
• The world economy is in conversion - from the industrial age to
the knowledge age. There are shifts in employment patterns as
new industries replace old
• There is a change in the age composition of our communities. As a
result of these changes barriers to trade are coming down and we
are now part of a global economy
• The application and convergence of computing and
communication technologies has accelerated the development of
global business and the global market place
• Technology is now an integral part of the workplace, our homes,
our community, our very way of living

26. Economic Change
• Knowledge Economy
• As UAE, Hong Kong and India moves into the new millennium,
and we seek ways of addressing the need to become a
Knowledge Society, we not only face a confusing mix of
uncertainty, risk, insecurity and division, but also opportunity.
• Globalization
• The challenges of rapid change are all around us. They can be
seen in thorough shifts in the organization of industry, business
and labor markets
• Specialization
• We are apparent in the rapid changes in occupations and the
demand for new skills, and manifest themselves in new
technology and communication systems

27. Economic Change
•Diversity
• Gone are the days of a single career path for most people
• These challenges feature in the need to meet increased
competition, and in the requirement for new skills and
capacities at work
•Complexity, risk, uncertainty, sudden shifts
• Demand for new products and services and in the radical and
far reaching transformation of technology, information and
communications now in existence
• These changes are having great impact on individuals as they
struggle to meet these challenges

28. Social Change
• An ageing society
• Statistics show that we are an ageing society. Life expectancy
at present is into the 80s, but people are retiring or becoming
unemployed at 50 something, so there is a need for these
people to continue with active and interesting lives.
• Lifelong Learning is a ‘cradle to grave’ process and each and
every member of our society plays an important and integral
part in its welfare
• Poverty, exclusion, disadvantaged groups
• Statistics also show that an increasing number of people are on
the poverty line.
• These people are disadvantaged the most in applying for
employment or having the confidence to take up learning
opportunities

29. Social Change
• Changes in demographics
• We are belongs to fast populated community whom we must
encourage and provide easier, more organized and more
connected pathways to learning for them to fulfil their learning
potential. We need to be positive about addressing their needs
• Changes in family types
• Hong Kong has the lowest birth rate among regional countries
as compare to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.
• There is a trend showing more and more people are getting
late in their marriages because they have some bright plan for
their next generation with minimum and limited resources.

30. Technological Change
• Information and Communication Technologies
• There is no doubt that those who do not understand, use and
develop technology within their field are disadvantaged in the
global market.
• Where once we wrote letters now we send e-mails. Where
once one telephone in the house was a luxury we now have
multiple land lines, computer communication, and use mobiles
• Changing methods and patterns of communication
• We have cable communication, data networks, satellite links,
and increasingly technological developments are ahead of its
usage
• Digital divide
• the gulf between those who have ready access to computers
and the Internet, and those who do not.
• Shift from linear to network societies
• Reason electronic, print and social media

31. Put all of this together and
you create a Vision for
Lifelong Learning

32. Challenges of Life-long Learning
• Time Management
• Too many pulls
• Self disciplines
• Insufficient working experience
• Financial constraints
• Peer group pressure