On-Line Environments and the Promotion of Professional Competencies

Abstract

Recent pedagogical research argues that alongside the theoretical knowledge
and professional skills that are traditional to tertiary education there is need for
the development of practice wisdom. As this approach to wisdom is
underpinned with Socratic conceptualisations of humility and the capacity to
recognise knowledge deficits, the learning environment must facilitate personal
confidence, and commitment to personal development. Ideally professional
graduands should see themselves as embarking on a course of self efficacious
growth, confidence building, and committed reflective development. Previous
research implies that graduate confidence is undermined at the time of
transition to work and thus activities that contextualise student learning provide
added bonuses. Because of this significance of the organizational context to
professional efficacy, a tertiary teaching/learning environment has been
developed which focuses on simulating the organizational context of
professionalism. An on-line learning strategy is introduced to expose students to
a combination of problem based learning and collaborative learning in simulated
organisational contexts. The on-line environment is used as an avenue for
recruiting participation in reflective development while the future-professional is
still in the tertiary teaching context.
This project applies simulated on-line roles that are analogous of the
professional roles and responsibilities of human service practice. This informs
teaching practice regarding the need for developing expected levels of practice
confidence and commitment to wise practice.