Reflections - elearning professionals defined

Sources

Lisewski, Bernard and Joyce, Paul (n.d.) ‘Examining the five-stage e-moderating model:
Designed and emergent practice in the learning technology profession’, [online] Available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resourcepage/view.php?id=90970&direct=1 (Accessed 24 November 2008).

Oliver, Martin (2002) ‘What do Learning Technologists do?’, Innovations in Education and Teaching International , 30(4), pp. 245-252.

Refinement of my earlier definition based on readings of Oliver and Lisweski

earlier definition of an elearning practitioner

An elearning professional is one who consistently engages in reflective practice, and consistently seeks engagement with other elearning practitioners to test and refine one's understanding of good practice, constantly internalizes, constructs and applies these ideas to improvve the quality of their elearning efforts - specifically in one's ability to address the needs of the students one seeks to serve.

the refined definition of an elearning practitioner / professional

An elearning professional is one who consistently engages in reflective practice. This involves using models, templates, learning theories, etc. that have been presented by others in the field but resisting the temptation to immediately accept them .. Instead, they should be judiciously used to "guide" teaching practices.

As an elearning professional, one should be prepared to contest and challenge current practices ... especially as to how useful they are in one's local context. By doing so, one contributes to the development/refinement of a body of knowledge and expertise that informs their professional practice and that of others.

As an elearning professional, one should recognize the unique nature of the postion. Such a role grants them a high degree of autonomy (i.e. entering into a discreet client / consultant relationship).. but equally important is to understand how the role typically does not grant them authority to direct others as to what should be done. Yet concurrently, they are often expected to be positive agents for change in the institution.

With such an understanding, an elearning professional is ensuring that they are putting forward their best efforts to realize "quality elearning " that addresses the needs of their sponsoring institution's students.

Activity 6.1 - Warrior Article

Source

Warrior, Becky (2002) ‘Reflections of an Education Professional’, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education, 1(2), pp. 53-59, [online] Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/johlste/0030_warrior_vol1no2.pdf (Accessed 23 November 2008).

How to define professionalism..

Perkins (1985) presents the idea of professionalism as

• an occupation with a crucial social function
• requiring a high degree of skill
• drawing on a systematic body of knowledge

Sockett (1985) defines it as requiring

• element of intellectual training or mental expertise

Millerson (1964) defines it as having

• skills based on theoretical knowledge
• intellectual training and education
• some sort of independent testing of competence
• access to a restrictive organization or association
• allegiance to a code of conduct
• an altruistic drive to serve others

Lindop (1982) being professional is about

• doing something special for society
• professing to have certain socially useful skills
• enjoying privilege and responsibility
• exercising personal judgement
• protecting the public by guaranteeing certain minimum standards of competence
• having recognized one's conduct and merit by payment and status

a variety of different views .. each overlapping in some way or another
but all demonstrating a key duality for any profession

• an intrinsic responsibility of a member to other members
• an extrinsic responsibility of a member to the public / client

.... but then is teaching a profession?

Being an educator

• require recognized qualifications
• combines knowledge with practice
• requires organization ... a framework to abide by (i.e. format for curriculum design, delivery, and assessment)

yet...

• primary / secondary teacher must have compentencies / qualifications to teach
• whereas lecturers must have specialist level of knowledge .. but not necessarily a detailed understanding of theories / practices of teaching to teach

So what bounds the profession of educators?

Key issue - QUALITY

• means meeting or exceeding certain standards .. realized via supervision, inspection & control
• quality in teaching is often measured in terms of "benchmarks", "self assessment docs", "performance indicators"
• these become the standards to which teachers are measured

yet...

• professional discretion is removed because of the restrictive framework of rules and managerial control
• inspections can be seen as intrusive and marginalizing professional autonomy

another option to realizing QUALITY

• being professional means commitment and time to professional development .. on an ongoing basis
• onus is on the individual to update themselves to attend regular training courses or conferences .. to prevent stagnation of professional practice

Hoyle (1985) professional development is a process where professionals seek to improve their competencies

• reskilling
• relearning
• incorporating new modes of teaching
• self appraisal

Yet this is not without difficulty. On these terms, a professional must constantly and consistently find the time and motivation to take responsibility for one's own professional development.

In effect a professional is one who consistently engages in reflective practice, and consistently seeks engagement with other practitioners to test and share one's findings (intrinsic responsibility), and equally so, consistently informs practice through the application of these ideas to address the needs of those they seek to serve (extrinsic responsibility).

Publish Post

Activity 6.1 - eLearning as a profession

Sources

Higher Education Academy Professional Standards Consultation (n.d.) ‘Standards framework for teaching and supporting student learning in HE’, [online] Available from: http://www.alt.ac.uk/HEA_professional_standards_consultation_20051012.html (Accessed 16 November 2008).

ALT, (n.d.) ‘SECOND CONSULTATION ON THE PROPOSAL TO FORM
A LIFELONG LEARNING SECTOR SKILLS COUNCIL - Questionnaire’, [online] Available from: http://www.alt.ac.uk/docs/questionnaire_lluk_ALT.pdf (Accessed 16 November 2008).

What are the specifications for education and training couses aimed at elearning professionals?

Very difficult to find any definitions on this .. all of them seem to come out of the UK though by taking more time to mine the job descriptions for learning technologists in the US this might become easier to address.

From
Higher Education Academy Professional Standards Consultation
An elearning professional is someone who ...

• makes appropriate / judicious use of technology to realize learning outcomes
• has an indepth understanding of learning theory and its application to online learning design
• makes efforts to work with others to enhance and inform each other's practice, knowledge and experience
  

From Anonymous, (n.d.) ‘SECOND CONSULTATION ON THE PROPOSAL TO FORM A LIFELONG LEARNING SECTOR SKILLS COUNCIL - Questionnaire’

An elearning professional is someone who ..

• systematically applies a body of knowledge to the design, implementation and evaluation of learning resources
• uses principles of good learning theory, good instructional design and change management to support learning and provide learning resources
• is grounded in the use of technologies and their capabilities to support learning

Compare these specifications with your own education and training.

My own formal and informal education is a mix of visual arts training, museum management, adult education, english as a foreign language training and teaching and my current studies in the MA with the Open U. It's a very eclectic mix but I've also noticed that all of these educational / subject domains have been greatly affected by information technology. I have had to learn learning theory on at least three separate ocassions and maybe more - each from a different perspective (i.e. general, adult and online). Most of my own learning about effective use of technology has been informed by earlier courses in the Open U program. Much of the learning theory has been informed via reflection and integration into my own teaching practice, much of the appropriate selection of technology in education comes from direct experience and reflection on it. In almost all cases, the Open U program has served to more formally recognize my experience and efforts.

My formal qualifications .. constant theme?

Education. in environments that seem to promote or encourage innovation / dealing with change / promoting creativity .. and to do so under fairly close scrutiny by others (i.e. visual arts - public art displays, cultural sector - leveraging scarce time and money resources, adult education - targeted needs, efl - multi mode teaching leveraging scarce time and money resources to realize learning outcomes for students).

Compare this with the education and training of the H808 course team

I recognized that the team placed a certain amount of emphasis on experience with computer mediated communications and learning, the need to be current and connected with a community of practice, and the need to make one's work transparent (open to scrutiny and input from peers). I sense I've had two of the three drilled into me by work demands. The middle point is one that I grew to value while working in the cultural sector - the importance of networking with others to inform one's practice.

Other repeated themes? The need for ethics, standards to support one's work. The importance of striving for quality. The need to be part of a community of practice to constantly inform one's practice in a field whose context seems to be constantly changing.These sorts of values, curiously enough, were emparted in me via my work in alternative education while working in the cultural sector - where public scrutiny and validation were very important to ensuring "buy in".

Activity 1.1 - Introductory audio

How do you feel about the label - elearning professional?

About the label - elearning professional - I'm not clear about what it really means and I don't get much help from the prodcast either. It just gives rise to more questions. Kirkup comes the closest to how I would expect the term professional to be used. One's actions are grounded by ethical standards, but then on top of these are a set of values that have been drawn up by the profession itself, a code of practice collectively determined by the professionals (often via an association). They also strive to regulate themselves .. awarding professional credentials to those who meet a set of standards (predictably) determined by other "elders"(more experienced, learned professionals?) and recognizing those who go on to promote further progress in the profession..(again often via some sort of association).

But then Robin Goodfellow's small "p" vs big "P" definitions of professionalism and even more so Jones comment on how the term professional has been redefined today to mean something again quite different throw a wrench into all of this. Today's "modern" professonal or what sounds to me more like a "semi" professional is much less self regulated and instead more directed by those who "manage" them. I've only just recently been hired as an Educational Support Specialist and see this tension confronting me front and center - trying to bring a professional point of view (gleened from my MAODE studies) to addressing needs and issues where I work.. yet at the same time I'm directed by management to follow a very detailed agenda and sometimes one that even spells out what resources are to be used to realize it. In some ways I feel I'm being asked to assume the role of an elearning professional when convenient... then an elearning technician when convenient. "Quasi professional"?