In my early years as a trainer and assessor I was encouraged
to benchmark everything I developed against others in the industry – hopefully
those who were better at it than me! I quickly joined the local Trainers and
Assessors Network, but was disappointed to find that most weren’t actually
interested in bench-marking, but rather protecting their own intellectual
property. That attitude makes it very difficult to benchmark ones’ own
professional practice. To counter that I
started to take every opportunity to observe other trainers and learn from
them, not only what TO do, but also what NOT to do. In those early days I had
the Assessor Code of Practice front and centre, but I find now that many
Assessors don’t even know it exists. It’s been a while since I looked at it, so
on a recent review, I was surprised to see how much of it has now become
something we do for compliance rather than because we believe it’s what is
best. Surely protecting the rights of candidates, avoiding harassment and
maintaining confidentiality (to name a few points) should be expected of all
Assessors because that’s what we WANT to do, not because we’re told we have to.
I’m particularly interested in the way a couple of the last
points are worded: “Professional development opportunities are identified and
sought” and “Opportunities for networking amongst assessors are created and
maintained.” Both are active, not
passive, statements. It’s not “Professional development will be attended
(reluctantly) when it’s handed to me on a plate”, but rather implies an active
working out what I need and then seeking it out for myself. I think I’ve done
this reasonably well in identifying and attending webinars, Twitter chats, live
streamed conferences and MOOCs. I still need to work out how I can better
engage my colleagues and encourage them to seek out their own PD.
Achieving a qualification can be seen as a means of
bench-marking, but there is no specific qualification for my job role, and
sadly, many Diploma qualified Assessors can’t navigate their way through a unit
of competency, meaning this isn’t a satisfactory benchmark.
I can also benchmark against our organisational Code of
Conduct which highlights the values of fairness, respect, integrity,
professionalism, accountability and equality of opportunity. A few key points
applicable to my role are the need to use current and accurate information and
evidence: maintain up-to-date knowledge in our areas of work or scholarship,
and in the professional, legal and ethical standards relevant to our areas of
expertise: and to practice inclusiveness and respect for differences between
people.
How do I do this? I subscribe to a barrage of industry
newsletters by email, I participate in LinkedIn group discussions, and follow
industry organisations on Twitter. In our team I’m recognised as the
“information seeker” and I’m tasked with keeping the rest of the team informed
– one of the benefits of our Myers-Briggs analysis a couple of years ago was
identifying what tasks each of us enjoys.
Practicing inclusivity on our campus is a must: our staff
include tradespeople who have spent years on the tools and come to us having
never used a computer, admin staff fresh out of school, highly (and multi)
qualified HE Lecturers and everything in between. We may not be multi-racial,
but we are certainly multi-cultural. And I get to work with all of them! They
know that if my door is open they are welcome to drop in with a query or a
chat. They know that if they need assistance, there is nothing I enjoy more
than getting out of my office, sitting beside them and helping to work out
whatever is the issue. I love working with small groups in a training
environment where I can make sure I give everyone opportunities to be involved.
I’d love to hear from other Instructional Designers or Learning
Technologists – what are your professional benchmarks and where do you look to
for professional development?
