Developing Professional

Skills
John Wilcox
Published by: The UK Centre for Materials Education
Copyright 2003
Series Edited by: Caroline Baillie
and Leone Burton
Illustrations by: Z*qhygoem
Designed by: Unity Communications
Printed by: Ashley Printers
Encouraging students to
create a personal profile
INTRODUCTION
Many of our community, lecturers in the disciplines of and
relating to Materials Science and Engineering, have
expressed interest in simple-to-use guides to support the
workshops we run on learning and teaching. As part of our
Thematic Groups scheme, we have established 12 themes
for this special focussed support, each of which is led by a
Thematic Group Leader. During the first two years of the
scheme, workshops have been held on these themes and
this has enabled the leaders to further explore relevant
issues with lecturers and feed the results into this series of
booklets.
Learning and teaching is a continuous cycle represented in
the diagram below:
We can start at any point around the cycle. If we are in the
business of teaching it certainly helps if there is someone to
teach! Not such a funny joke in the current climate with
reducing numbers of students in technical disciplines.
Hence one of our main concerns is how can we approach
schools and work with school students to attract them into
Materials areas. Attracting Materials Students by Cheryl
Anderson explores how we can work with schools and the
wider community to ensure a diverse and inclusive group of
able students on our courses. Once we have a class to teach,
what would we like to teach them? The first reaction to
such a question is to make a list of topics or knowledge.
However, this is only a beginning, and a very limited one.
Not only are there are many skills and attitudes that we
Developing Professional Skills
1
would like them to develop, but learning is more complex
than simply the what. It also involves the how. Developing
Professional Skills by John Wilcox explores the approach to
empowering students to track their own skills development
as they progress. Materials for Engineers by Mike
Bramhall, Materials Chemistry by Stephen Skinner and
Environmental Materials by Cris Arnold, focus on what we
might like to include in a specialised curriculum, for
targeted students. The knowledge, skills and attitudes or
learning objectives identified for each course must be
assessed if we are going to give credit to students for
learning what we want them to learn. Assessing Materials
Students by Lewis Elton gives support to the development
of assessments and assignments that do in fact give marks
for those things we want to acknowledge, rather than those
aspects that are simply easy to assess!
Believe it or not it is only at this stage that we can really
consider how we should teach the students to learn these
things. We all know about lectures but will we use in
addition or instead: tutorials (Tutoring Materials by Adam
Mannis and Shanaka Katuwawala), labs (Teaching
Materials Lab Classes by Caroline Baillie), case studies
(Teaching Materials Using Case Studies by Claire Davis
and Elizabeth Wilcock), problem based learning (Learning
Materials in a Problem Based Course by James Busfield and
Ton Peijs) or even learning at a distance (Learning
Materials at a Distance by Mark Endean)?
The final stage before we start all over again is to see if we
have done what we intended to do. We may have already
found out whether, and how effectively, the students learnt
what we wanted them to (i.e. if the assessment matched the
learning objectives and if our teaching methods suited the
students learning approaches). If this has not proved to be
as ideal a scenario as we would have wished we will need
further input to analyse what has happened. Were the
course objectives inappropriate? Am I sure that the
assessment did not force my students into taking a surface
approach? Did the students take on surface approaches to
learning because of my teaching? Ivan Moores Evaluating
a Materials Course will give you the tools of the trade to
conduct your own thorough evaluation and enable you to
develop an improved course for next years cohort. Which
brings us back to the beginning of the cycle. Are we
attracting students with appropriate abilities for this
course? And on it goes .
In writing these booklets, and running the workshops we
have had a lot of fun and we hope that you catch the flavour
of this in using them. Stay in touch and give us feedback
about your ideas in implementing any of the suggestions.
As a community we can learn most from each other.
Caroline Baillie and Leone Burton
Editors
Developing Professional Skills
2
WHY THIS BOOKLET?
What will I learn tomorrow? Let me put it another way. I
hope that tomorrow will be interesting, and will challenge
me as a professional. I dont want to have to do the same
old tasks that I have spent the last ten years repeating,
honing my skills in narrow areas to perfection. I want new
experiences, so that I can continue to grow as a professional.
Furthermore, by continuing to learn, I can re-awaken part of
myself and reconnect with the world that my students
inhabit. I can rediscover the frustrations of not being able to
understand fundamental concepts or master essential skills,
and I can again experience the joy of success and the fear of
failure. I can remind myself of the value of the great teacher
and of great teaching. I can experience first hand the hurdles
we place in front of those who wish so much to learn.
In any case, learning is good for the soul. It leads to
regeneration and growth, without which our intellects will
wither. It leads to a questioning approach and to reflection on
experiences from which both we, and our students, benefit
and if that questioning and reflection take place in view of
the students, then it will also influence their own approach.
Of course, there are many other reasons for signing up to
continuing professional development, and we will look at
these in more detail below.
OBJECTIVES/AIMS
This booklet has two principal objectives. The first is to
highlight the skills required for successful, lifelong
professional development. These skills, like many others in
life, can only be acquired by coaching and by practise. The
second objective, therefore, is to suggest strategies and
methodologies that can assist in the acquisition of
professional development skills.
PERSPECTIVE
For many people in further and higher education,
professional development is synonymous with short
courses or with post-graduate qualifications. However,
professional development is more than training or
continuing education - increasingly it is recognised that
learning also occurs in the work-place, as an integral part
of working. Work-based learning focuses on solving real-
world problems. The time and effort invested in the
learning are immediately rewarded through completing
the task in hand and the usefulness of such learning,
together with the short-term nature of the rewards,
improves the motivation to learn.
3
Developing Professional
Skills
John Wilcox
Professional development therefore covers a wide range of
learning situations:
G Private study and reading
G Attending conferences and seminars
G Preparing papers and presentations
G Committee work
G Collaborative work with colleagues
G Conversation and discussions with others
G Courses and distance learning
G Researching the solution to problems
G Working with others outside the organisation
To these we might add the learning and development that
take place when we are transferred to new situations, or
when we take on new responsibilities within our existing job
functions. Professional development also includes the full
range of intellectual discipline, from conceptual
understanding to the practical application of knowledge.
The informal and ad-hoc nature of much professional
development poses problems for us as educationalists. How
do we evaluate and assess it? How can we recognise and
reward it?
Delivering professional development on demand to
practising materials technologists using a variety of learning
modes will require new approaches to teaching and learning,
and should make use of modern information technologies,
adapted and adopted for teaching and learning.
However, such matters lie outside the scope of this booklet.
OVERVIEW
We will start by reviewing the importance of both
continuing professional development and the skills that
enable it to take place. We will then define the terms
professional development and professional development
skills. Finally, we will consider methods to identify and
deliver relevant lifelong learning. These methods also
provide the training regime through which we can become
skilled at professional development.
WHY ARE PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT SKILLS IMPORTANT?
Professional development is not a new concept, but it is
becoming increasingly important. The continuing pace of
change in materials science and engineering means that
what we learned in our initial training courses soon becomes
dated and irrelevant. It has been estimated that the half-life
of technical knowledge is about seven years. Furthermore,
the amount of knowledge and the amount of information
continues to increase. Materials science and engineering
has become knowledge intensive: we have entered the
knowledge-based economy.
In this new world, it is impossible for us to know all that
there is to know, yet access to the knowledge base is
increasingly readily available. So what will make us good
materials technologists, rather than poor ones, is that our
knowledge is more relevant, and more current, and is
applied more efficiently and effectively.
The work-place has also changed, with the result that
materials scientists and engineers are expected to have a
wider range of skills (see table 1). We increasingly work in
teams on projects and much of what we do is virtual rather
than tangible. As one project ends, another begins, and so
we move from project to project, from team to team, and
from one work-place to another. Indeed, for many, the
increasingly itinerant nature of work leads us into several
different careers during our working lives.
These are strong, compelling reasons for professional
development skills, but there are many more!
Developing Professional Skills
4
learning situations:
G A better informed and more sophisticated public is
demanding a higher duty of care and level of service
from professionals.
G Linked to this is the increasing risk of claims for
negligence from professionals deemed to have failed
in their duty or given poor advice.
G Within organisations, modern quality management
systems demand that qualified people are in place to
make decisions.
Developing Professional Skills
5
TABLE 1: THE SKILLS REQUIRED BY
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
Table 1a
Combine general and specialist engineering knowledge and
understanding to optimise the application of existing and emerging
technology.
Apply appropriate theoretical and practical methods to the analysis
and solution of engineering problems.
Provide technical, commercial and managerial leadership.
Communicate effectively and possess good interpersonal skills.
Apply appropriate codes of professional conduct, recognising
obligations to society, the profession and the environment.
Source: UK Engineering Council
Table 1b
Transform existing systems into conceptual models.
Transform conceptual models into determinable models.
Use determinable models to obtain system specifications in terms of
parametric values.
Select optimum specifications and create physical models.
Apply the results from physical models to create real target systems.
Critically review real target systems and personal performance.
Source: UK Engineering Professors Council
Table 1c
Apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering.
Use the technical skills and engineering tools necessary for modern
engineering practice.
Design and conduct experiments, and analyse and interpret data.
Design a system, component or process to meet sopecified needs.
Function in multidiciplinary teams.
Formulate and solve engineering problems.
Interpret and employ guidelines on professional and ethical responsibility.
Communicate effectively.
Apply knowledge of contemporary and cultural issues.
Appreciate the impact of engineering solutions in the global and
social context.
Work in teams or in collaboration with others.
Information technology and management skills.
Source: US Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology
How can I
encourage students
to take an active
approach to skills
development?
If we do not respond to this challenge, we face the prospect
of becoming irrelevant. If, as professionals, we assume that
our old time-served competences will last a lifetime, we will
find ourselves becoming candidates for redundancy. The
organisations we work for equally run the risk of failing to
provide the new products and services that the market
requires, resulting in decline.
And so we need to learn continually as we work. This
requires a skill set all of its own, a skill set we need to learn
for ourselves as teachers and mentors, and a skill set we
need to instil into our students for their future benefit.
WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT?
Professional development is the process by which a person
maintains the quality and relevance of professional services
throughout his/her working life. It has been defined by the
Institute for Continuing Professional Development as:
The systematic maintenance,
improvement and broadening of
knowledge and the development of
personal qualities necessary for the
education of professional and technical
duties throughout the practitioners
working life.
It follows that we have an ethical responsibility as
professional materials technologists to continue our
professional development throughout our careers.
Professional development is not a product, devised by
training providers and academic institutions. It is a mindset,
a habit to acquire.
Professional development requires self-directed,
independent learning. It also demands an active rather than
passive approach to learning. It differs from other forms of
learning because it requires us to decide what needs to be
learned or un-learned, how to learn it, and how to test and
assess our learning. These are issues that we will discuss below.
EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Would you tell me, please, which
way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where
you want to get to, said the Cheshire
Cat.
I dont much care where said Alice.
Then it doesnt matter which way
you go, said the Cat.
So long as I get somewhere, Alice
added as an explanation.
Oh, youre sure to do that, said the
Cat, if you only walk long enough.
Lewis Carroll (1865), p54
The European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)
has issued a discussion document (Padfield et al., 1998)
with the intention of stimulating debate on professional
education and lifelong learning for engineers. This
document defines professional development skills as the
ability of the learner, fluently and without external
direction, to:
Developing Professional Skills
6
G audit and assess what they already know and
can do
G work out, at a level of detail that will differ from
individual to individual, a career and a learning
development plan
G integrate, into their learning, acknowledgement
of their need for continuing personal
development in the private as well as the
professional realms
G understand the qualities of different kinds of
knowing, of understanding, and of skills and
competences and understand how the different
kinds of knowledge inter-relate and reinforce
each other
G reflect upon their knowledge, establishing links
between different kinds of knowledge, and
formulating relevant theoretical constructs to
explain it
G conduct research into elements of professional
knowledge, practice and competence that lie
within the context of their work, in pursuit of
solutions to problems of the day, personal
professional development, and (more generally)
the development of their profession
The above is a list of performance criteria by which we
might assess our professional development skills. However,
what is missing from the list is the route by which we might
achieve these objectives. It is suggested that a five step
approach is used:
STEP 1 Profiling Ourselves: This is the starting point for
our individual professional development plan and should
contain the ingredients from the table below:
The personal profile based upon the Macmillan open
learning course for Nursing
Working Life List strengths and successes
Identify expertise that has not been exploited
Skills inventory Rate skills and competences on a scale of 15
Identify skills needing further development
Values, attitudes Review the opinion of others
and beliefs Evaluate your own views and opinions
Learning skills Identify types of learning preferred
Developing Professional Skills
7
Encouraging students to create a personal profile
Developing Professional Skills
8
Developing our personal profile will make use of the
reflective practices discussed in step 5.
STEP 2 Define the Strategy: Our professional
development needs to be correctly focused for maximum
impact so that it meets both our individual development
needs and those of the organisation for which we work
(see Table 2 below). If our employer has in place an annual
staff review and appraisal process, then our individual
aspirations and the organisational goals may have been
reviewed, and a training and development plan agreed for
the foreseeable future. Otherwise, we should discuss our
professional development needs with our manager and our
training or human resources department.
Table 2: The differences between a Fragmented approach
to CPD and a Focussed approach based upon Willie
(1991)
STEP 3 Develop an Action Plan: Putting the strategy into
action can be the biggest challenge. An action plan can help.
An effective action plan has four key ingredients:
G A clear statement of the goal to be achieved
G The actions required to achieve the goal
G The target timescale for achieving the goal
G Criteria to assess when we have reached our goal
In order to deliver the action plan, we will have to seek out
opportunities for learning and skills development, ideally in
partnership with our employer. And since professional
development benefits both the employee and the employer,
we might find that our employer asks us to make a
contribution to our own professional development, by
committing some of our own time and perhaps by sharing
the costs.
Having established our action plan, we next need to decide
how we are to go about the learning process.
STEP 4 Learning Styles: Research commissioned by the
British Audio Visual Society in 1988 suggests that we
remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30%
of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 80% of what
we say and 90% of what we say and do at the same time.
For this reason, Fisher (2000) recommends that we
integrate learning and working, so that we learn within the
context of our work using real-world problems. Then the
time and effort we invest in professional development is
rewarded by immediately assisting us to complete the task
in hand. Fisher believes the immediate usefulness of the
learning greatly improves our motivation to learn.
Whilst this may be generally true for groups of people, as
individuals, we each have our own preferred learning styles.
There are many ways to categorize learning styles, but the
simplest places learners into one or more of three categories:
Fragmented approach to CPD
Not linked to organisational goals
Seen as a cost not an investment
Focussed on training
(discontinuous) not development
(continuous)
Unsystematic
Menu driven, like ordering from a
mail catalogue
About directive training and
knowledge acquisition
Viewed as unimportant, with
course attendance frequently
cancelled due to pressure of work
or lack of commitment
Not transferred, with learning
rarely being implemented at the
workplace
Viewed as a reward for good
performance
Focussed approach to CPD
Linked to both organisational and
individual needs
Viewed as an investment in human
resource management
Focussed on on-the-job
development and skills
development in addition to
knowledge-based training
Evaluated with both pre- and post-
course assessment
About learning as opposed to
training
Transferred to action and change in
the workplace
Flexible in application including
open, distance and self-
development
?
G Visual those who learn best through their eyes and
what they see and read. The ideal learning approaches in
this case will involve studying magazines and books and
learning online.
G Auditory those who learn best by hearing things, either
on tape or in discussion. Dialogue and discussion is
important to their learning process. The ideal learning
environment is the classroom, but discussions with
colleagues and audio tapes can also be useful.
G Kinesthetic/Tactile those who learn best by doing,
such as taking their own notes or participating in
demonstrations and hands-on projects. Ideal structure:
magazine and online learning; classroom that encourages
participation.
It is important to analyse the way we learn best before
devising the learning strategy/action plan to achieve our
goals. Like me, you might find the way that you learn
changes as your grow older. I now find myself drawing upon
my past professional experience to build new knowledge
and understanding, whereas before I could assimilate facts
almost effortlessly.
STEP 5 Evaluation and Reflection
One day when Pooh Bear had
nothing else to do, he thought he
would do something, so he went round
to Piglets house to see what Piglet
was doing .... (To) his surprise he
found that the door was open, and the
more he looked inside, the more Piglet
wasnt there.
A A Milne (1928), p163
As we have seen, good professional development relies
strongly on self-analysis and appraisal to develop our
personal profile and to analyse our preferred learning styles.
This is not necessarily easy for a number of reasons.
First, it can be hard to understand ourselves
and see ourselves as others see us. Second,
reflecting on skills and competences is not
something that engineers are necessarily
trained to do. Third, as the pace of life
continues to increase, it is not easy to find
time for self-analysis and reflection.
Mentoring is one way of overcoming these problems. A
mentor is someone who can advise and guide you in your
career. He or she has a number of roles as an appraiser, a
supporter, a communicator and a motivator. The
relationship therefore is different from that between a
superior and his/her subordinate, and it is unlikely that a
manager can carry out these functions. A good mentor has
coaching skills, is trustworthy, respected and is free from
major distractions either within or outside the workplace.
Choose one with care!
Without a mentor, reflection is also not always a productive
experience. It can be a bit like looking for Piglet we can
spend time thinking without arriving at a conclusion. It
helps, of course, if we have a structure to our thinking. The
key questions are:
G What is happening/has happened?
G What brought this about?
G What went well and what did not go well?
G How can the situation be improved?
G What might we learn from the situation that might
influence future action?
It is recommended that we carry out this reflective
evaluation both during and at the end of any task or
learning we might undertake. One way of encouraging
reflective practise in our professional life is to keep a
reflective diary or log.
Developing Professional Skills
9
Many of us keep diaries that list our business or social
appointments. Some of us also keep to do lists. A
reflective log is like a personal diary or record in which we
note not just what we have done or accomplished, and
what we have learned but also reflect on our feelings.
What did we find difficult? What should we do to resolve
the situation?
Often, a particular incident requires us to take a look at
ourselves and our performance. Such critical incident
analysis should be reported in the log or diary. As
engineers, we make good use of major disasters and
failures in our teaching and learning. However, when it
comes to personal reflection, we should take care to
include successes as well as difficulties so that we keep a
balanced record of our achievement.
As well as providing a focus for us to reflect on
professional experiences, the reflective diary also has a role
in helping us to evaluate our learning. Some useful
questions are: Was the learning task appropriate to our
needs? Was it efficient, achieving the desired outcome
with the appropriate effort? Was it economic?
Reviewing our reflective diary can also provide useful
information. By looking back on our experiences, we can
reassess our goals. What have we accomplished? What
should the next steps be? This leads us naturally back to
revisit and update our professional profile and our action
plan.
And so the process continues....
Professional institutions are struggling to find
ways of evaluating professional development.
There is still a tendency to measure the
inputs (number of hours) rather than the
outputs (increased competence). The
establishment of competence statements
in the 3rd edition of Standards and Route
to Registration as a professional engineer
(SARTOR 3) by the UK Engineering Council
provides a useful structure. The Institute of Materials,
Minerals and Mining has adapted and developed these
competences within the discipline of materials engineering
and has specified over 100 areas in which Materials
Technologists should demonstrate competence. However,
whilst these are useful standards, we should remember
that professional development is not a product or an
outcome it is a process.
Developing Professional Skills
10
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
Inc (www.abet.org)
Davis, M (1993), A Students Guide to Open Learning,
Macmillan Magazines Ltd.
Engineering Council UK (www.engc.org.uk)
Engineering Professors Council (www.engprofc.ac.uk)
European Society for Engineering Education
(www.ntb.ch/SEFI)
Fisher, G (2000) Lifelong learning more than training,
Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Fall 2000, p265
Guest, G (2000) Lifelong Learning for the Global Networked
Society, presented at Technological Education and National
Development: Crossroads of the New Millennium, Abu
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 8-10 April 2000
Institute for Continuing Professional development
(www.trainingzone.co.uk/icpd)
Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
(www.iom3.org)
Kennie, T Continuing Professional Development: The growing
importance of CPD, Institute for Continuing Professional
Development (www.icpd.co.uk)
Padfield, C et al. (1998) Lifelong Learning in Engineering
Education: A Call to Action. SEFI Document No. 20.
Brussels: European Society for Engineering Education.
Willie, E (1991) People Development and Improved Business
Performance, Ashridge Management Research Group, The
Stationery Office.
Developing Professional Skills
11
NOTES
Developing Professional Skills
12
Other Booklets In
the Series:
Attracting Materials Students
Cheryl Anderson
Developing Professional Skills
John Wilcox
Materials for Engineers
Mike Bramhall
Materials Chemistry
Stephen Skinner
Environmental Materials
Cris Arnold
Assessing Materials Students
Lewis Elton
Tutoring Materials Adam Mannis
and Shanaka Katuwawala
Teaching Materials Lab Classes
Caroline Baillie
Teaching Materials Using Case Studies
Claire Davis and Elizabeth Wilcock
Learning Materials at a Distance
Mark Endean
Learning Materials in a Problem Based
Course James Busfield and Ton Peijs
Evaluating a Materials Course
Ivan Moore
UK Centre for Materials Education
Ashton Building
University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 3GH
Tel 0151 794 5364
Fax 0151 794 4466
Email ltsnmat@liv.ac.uk
www.materials.ac.uk Price:4
Developing
Professional Skills