Assignment 1

Semester 2nd

Autumn 202

Subject Critical Thinking and Reflective

Course code

Program B.AD (1.5)

Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad

Submitted
Q.1 Read an article on current affairs and critically analyze that how social,
political and economic aspects of that topic been considered?

Answer:
Recent political and economic developments and associated changes in the practice
and delivery of health and social care have led managers and professionals to
recognize the importance and links between problem solving and decision-making
skills. In particular, assessing the impact of political, economic, socio-cultural,
environmental and other external influences upon health care policy, proposals and
organizational programmed is becoming a recognizable stage of health service
strategic development and planning mechanisms. Undertaking this form of
strategic analysis therefore is to diagnose the key issues that the organization needs
to address.
This form of analysis can be undertaken by reviewing the organisational (external)
environment using the PEST-analysis (sometimes known as STEP-analysis),
extended to the PESTELI checklist described below. PESTELI Analysis is a useful
tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in which you are
operating, and the opportunities and threats that lie within it. By understanding
your environment, you can take advantage of the opportunities and minimise the
threats.

The term PEST has been used regularly in the last 20 years and its true history is
difficult to establish. The earliest known reference to tools and techniques for
‘scanning the business environment’ is by Francis J. Aguilar who discusses
‘ETPS’ - a mnemonic for the four sectors of his taxonomy of the
environment: Economic, Technical, Political, and Social. Over the years this has
become known as PEST with the additional letters are: Ecological
factors, Legislative requirements, and Industry analysis (Aguilar, 1967).
PESTELI is known as a ‘trends analysis’. The external environment of an
organization, partnership, community etc. can be assessed by breaking it down into
what is happening at Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental,
Legal and Industry levels. The same checklist can also be applied inside an
organization.
Initially the acronym PEST was devised, which stands for:
Political factors - both big and small 'p' political forces and influences that may
affect the performance of, or the options open to the organisation
Economic influences - the nature of the competition faced by the organisation or
its services, and financial resources available within the economy
Sociological trends - demographic changes, trends in the way people live, work,
and think
Technological innovations - new approaches to doing new and old things, and
tackling new and old problems; these do not necessarily involve technical
equipment - they can be novel ways of thinking or of organising
The expanded PESTELI, also includes:
Ecological factors - definition of the wider ecological system of which the
organisation is a part and consideration of how the organisation interacts with it
Legislative requirements - originally included under 'political', relevant
legislation now requires a heading of its own
Industry analysis - a review of the attractiveness of the industry of which the
organisation forms a part.
To be useful as an analysis tool, these environmental factors have to be linked to
the organisation's mission: which are helpful or which make it more difficult to
accomplish that mission.
Why undertake a PEST(ELI) Analysis?
To be effective a PEST(ELI) needs to be undertaken on a regular basis.
Organisations that do analyses regularly and systematically often spot trends
before others thus providing competitive advantage.
Advantages and disadvantages of using a PEST(ELI) analysis
Advantages

 Simple framework
 Facilitates an understanding of the wider business environment
 Encourages the development of external and strategic thinking
 Can enable an organisation to anticipate future business threats and take
action to avoid or minimise their impact
  Can enable an organisation to spot business opportunities and exploit them
fully
 By taking advantage of change, you are much more likely to be successful
than if your activities oppose it
 Avoids taking action that is doomed to failure from the outset, for reasons
beyond your control.

Disadvantages

 Some users over simplify the amount of data used for decisions – it is easy
to use scant data
 To be effective this process needs to be undertaken on a regular basis
 The best reviews require different people being involved each having a
different perspective
 Access to quality external data sources, this can be time consuming and
costly
 The pace of change makes it increasingly difficult to anticipate
developments that may affect an organisation in the future
 The risk of capturing too much data is that it may make it difficult to see the
wood for the trees and lead to ‘paralysis by analysis’
 The data used in the analysis may be based on assumptions that
subsequently prove to be unfounded (good and bad).

Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people should

focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. People that are less natural
decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments, but then they need to
be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made. PESTELI is almost entirely
based on external factors, so ensure at least some members of each team have
knowledge of, or are able to consider, the PESTELI factors if you intend using this
exercise. PESTELI is a good exercise for marketing people, and is good for
encouraging a business development, market orientated outlook among all staff. If
you want to use PESTELI with staff who are not naturally externally focused you
can have them do some research and preparation in advance of the exercise.
Completing a PESTELI analysis can be a simple or complex process. It all
depends how thorough you need to be. It is a good subject for workshop sessions,
as undertaking this activity with only one perspective (i.e. only one persons view)
can be time consuming and miss critical factors.
For most situations the original PEST analysis model arguably covers all of the
'additional' factors within the original four main sections. For example, Ecological
or Environmental factors can be positioned under any or all of the four main PEST
headings, depending on their effect. Legislative factors would normally be covered
under the Political heading since they will generally be politically motivated.
Demographics usually are an aspect of the larger Social issue. Industry Analysis is
effectively covered under the Economic heading. Ethical considerations would
typically be included in the Social and/or Political areas, depending on the
perspective and the effect. Thus we can often see these 'additional' factors as 'sub-
items' or perspectives within the four main sections. Examples of these have been
added to Table 1.
Keeping to four fundamental perspectives also imposes a discipline of considering
strategic context and effect. Many of these potential 'additional' factors (ethical,
legislative, environmental for example) will commonly be contributory causes
which act on one or some of the main four headings, rather than be big strategic
factors in their own right.

It is important to clearly identify the subject of a PEST(ELI) analysis, because a

PEST(ELI) analysis is four-way perspective in relation to a particular policy,
proposal or business plan - if you blur the focus you will produce a blurred
picture.
The shape and simplicity of a four-part model is also somehow more strategically
appealing and easier to manipulate and convey.
The PEST(ELI) template below (Table 1) includes sample prompts, whose answers
can be inserted into the relevant section of the PEST(ELI) Grid (Table 2). The
prompts are examples of discussion points, and obviously can be altered depending
on the subject of the PEST(ELI) analysis, and how you want to use it. Make up
your own PEST(ELI) questions and prompts to suit the issue being analysed and
the situation (i.e. the people doing the work and the expectations of them).
The following factors may help as a starting point for brainstorming (but make sure
you include other factors that may be appropriate to your situation):

 Decide how the information is to be collected and by whom (often a team

approach is much more powerful than one person’s view).
 Identify appropriate sources of information.
 Gather the information - it is useful to use a template as the basis for
exploring the factors and recording the information.
 In reviewing the data drawn from undertaking a PESTELI analysis it will be
important to assess whether there are any disproportionate impacts on particular
groups of people, especially those who are vulnerable. Proposals, organisational
missions and policy development should not widen inequalities, but actively seek
to reduce them. Part of the decision-making that follows the analysis will be to
consider what could be done to counterbalance the negative impacts for groups
which may get less health benefit from positive proposals or may be adversely
affected by proposals with a negative impact on health.

Q.2 In your point of view how does social exclusion/inclusion affect the
education of a child?

Answer:
Children have risen to the top of government agendas at various times over the past
decade, only to fall again whenever there is an economic downturn, a budget
deficit, a federal-provincial relations crisis or, most recently, a concern over
terrorism and national security. While there have been important achievements in
public policy in the past 5 to 10 years, there has not been a sustained government
commitment to children nor a significant improvement in the wellbeing of children
and families. In fact, in many areas, children and families have lost ground and
social exclusion is emerging as a major issue in Canada. Examples abound and
include these facts.
• the over-representation of racial minority families and children among those
living in poverty in large cities, and the denial of access to many services by
immigrant and refugee families;
• the 43% increase in the number of children in poverty in Canada since 1989, the
130% increase in the number of children in homeless shelters in Toronto, as well
as the persistence of one of the highest youth incarceration rates among
Commonwealth countries;
• the exclusion of children with disabilities from public policy frameworks (e.g. the
National Children’s Agenda), from definitions of ‘healthy’ child development and,
all too often, from community life. These situations provide the context for the
Laidlaw Foundation’s interest in social inclusion. The Foundation’s Children’s
Agenda program first began exploring social inclusion in 2000 as a way to re-focus
child and family policy by:
• re-framing the debate about poverty, vulnerability and the well-being of children
in order to highlight the social dimensions of poverty (i.e. the inability to
participate fully in the community)
• linking poverty and economic vulnerability with other sources of exclusion such
as racism, disability, rejection of difference and historic oppression
• finding common ground among those concerned about the well-being of families
with children to help generate greater public and political will to act. The
Foundation commissioned a series of working papers to examine social inclusion
from a number of perspectives. Although the authors approach the topic from
different starting points and emphasize different aspects of exclusion and inclusion,
there are important common threads and conclusions. The working papers draw
attention to the new realities and new understandings that must be brought to bear
on the development of social policy and the creation of a just and healthy society.

Understanding social inclusion Social exclusion emerged as an important policy

concept in Europe in the 1980s in response to the growing social divides that
resulted from new labour market conditions and the inadequacy of existing social
welfare provisions to meet the changing needs of more diverse populations. Social
inclusion is not, however, just a response to exclusion. Although many of the
working papers use social exclusion as the starting point for their discussions, they
share with us the view that social inclusion has value on its own as both a process
and a goal. Social inclusion is about making sure that all children and adults are
able to participate as valued, respected and contributing members of society. It is,
therefore, a normative (value based) concept - a way of raising the bar and
understanding where we want to be and how to get there. Social inclusion reflects a
proactive, human development approach to social wellbeing that calls for more
than the removal of barriers or risks. It requires investments and action to bring
about the conditions for inclusion, as the population health and international
human development movements have taught us. Recognizing the importance of
difference and diversity has become central to new under-standings of identity at
both a national and community level. Social inclusion goes one step further: it calls
for a validation and recognition of diversity as well as a recognition of the
commonality of lived experiences and the shared aspirations among people,
particularly evident among families with children. This strongly suggests that
social inclusion extends beyond bringing the ‘outsiders’ in, or notions of the
periphery versus the centre. It is about closing physical, social and economic
distances separating people, rather than only about eliminating boundaries or
barriers between us and them.

The working papers process revealed that social inclusion is a complex and
challenging concept that cannot be reduced to only one dimension or meaning. The
working papers, together with several other initiatives the Foundation sponsored as
part of its exploration of social inclusion , have helped us to identify five critical
dimensions, or cornerstones, of social inclusion:
Valued recognition– Conferring recognition and respect on individuals and
groups. This includes recognizing the differences in children’s development and,
therefore, not equating disability with pathology; supporting community schools
that are sensitive to cultural and gender differences; and extending the notion to
recognizing common worth through universal programs such as health care.
Human development – Nurturing the talents, skills, capacities and choices of
children and adults to live a life they value and to make a contribution both they
and others find worthwhile. Examples include: learning and developmental
opportunities for all children and adults; community child care and recreation
programs for children that are growth-promoting and challenging rather than
merely custodial.
Involvement and engagement – Having the right and the necessary support to
make/be involved in decisions affecting oneself, family and community, and to be
engaged in community life. Examples include: youth engagement and control of
services for youth; parental input into school curriculum or placement decisions
affecting their child; citizen engagement in municipal policy decisions; and
political participation.
Proximity – Sharing physical and social spaces to provide opportunities for
interactions, if desired, and to reduce social distances between people. This
includes shared public spaces such as parks and libraries; mixed income
neighborhoods and housing; and integrated schools and classrooms.
Material well being – Having the material resources to allow children and their
parents to participate fully in community life. This includes being safely and
securely housed and having an adequate income.

Enhancing children’s well-being, development and prospects for lifelong

learning

The child developmental dimension of social inclusion is linked to opportunities

for full realization of capabilities during childhood and, in the longer term, to the
adult the child will ultimately become. If social inclusion over the lifespan is
enhanced by full development in early childhood of talents, skills and capabilities,
ECEC programs that support this can play a significant role. Persuasive evidence
backs the idea that social determinants have significant implications for lifelong
mental and physical health (Keating & Hertzman, 1999). Many factors affect
whether children develop into healthy adults – innate characteristics, prenatal
conditions, the physical environment, nutrition, family attributes and interaction,
the community, institutions of learning, civil society and the socio-economic
environment. These factors affect one another, combining in complicated ways to
produce children in good health who are confident, content, competent, resilient
and socially responsible or, conversely, contribute to maturation of children who
lack these attributes. Although ECEC outside the family is one among a number of
factors that make a difference, it can have a profound effect on child development
indeed, it can be a determining factor. The idea that high quality ECEC services
play an important developmental role in early childhood is well supported by
research. If an ECEC program is high quality, it provides intellectual and social
simulation that promotes cognitive development and social competence with
effects that can persist into elementary school to establish a foundation for later
success. The findings about the benefits of ECEC programs pertain regardless of
social class (although poor children may derive more benefit) and whether or not
the mother is in the paid workforce (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Bryant &
Clifford, 2000; Lamb, 1998).
Supporting parents in education, training, employment and child-rearing

ECEC services can support families by helping reduce social exclusion linked to
poverty, unemployment and marginal employment, disempowerment and social
isolation. This applies both to the family as a unit and to women (a group with
specific needs that may or may not be the same as those of the family unit). These
effects advance the interests of the family and its members and also can be
mediated through the family to the child. Canadian women are in the paid labour
force for two reasons: first, financial pressures on families – especially those who
are poor, working class, and lone parents – and, second, modern perceptions that
paid employment is an appropriate role for women. Whatever the motivation,
dependable care for children is essential if mothers who would have been expected
to provide it a generation ago are to participate in the labour force, training or
education. Without access to reliable ECEC, women may be compelled to remain
out of the paid labour force, work at poorly paid parttime employment, or not take
advancement; some are forced into dependence on public assistance and poverty.
Thus, ECEC services are fundamental if mothers are employed and are essential
for reducing family poverty by permitting parents – in dual- or single-parent
families – to be educated, participate in training, or be employed. Indeed, without
alternative childcare, poor families may never be able to escape poverty. In this
way, poor accessibility to adequate childcare contributes to gender exclusion from
the labour force and to marginalization for women across classes. ECEC as a
support to parental employment is connected to social inclusion for children as
well as parents as social exclusion and inclusion are mediated through the family
as well as directly experienced by the child. Children in poor families may
experience the effects of social exclusion in childhood by not being financially
able to participate in school and neighbourhood activities, being ill-housed, ill-
clothed and even hungry while the intellectual, social and financial effects of
poverty may persist over the lifespan. The timing, severity and duration of early
childhood poverty has been shown to have long-lasting effects on children’s
language and cognitive development and school performance, and be associated
with both increased stresses on parents and poorer neighborhoods as the
environment in which young children live (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997), all of
which contribute to trajectories of compromised life chances and reduced human
and social capital. Thus, children’s possibilities are enhanced if their families are
sustained economically and socially. While paid work may not necessarily mean
that family income provides an adequate living standard, without income from
employment, families and their children lack even the possibility of escaping
poverty.

Fostering social solidarity and social cohesion

In addition to enhancing children’s well-being and supporting families, ECEC
programs as community institutions have the capacity to foster neighbourhood,
community and interpersonal co-operation and social solidarity: Early childhood
institutions...are forums located in civil society. They make important contributions
to other projects of social, cultural and political significance.… Further, early
childhood institutions can play an important part as the primary means for
constituting civil society...and for fostering the visibility, inclusion and active
participation of the young child and its family in civil society (Dahlberg, Moss &
Pence, 1999: 7). Community-based ECEC services can be a focal point for parents,
childcare providers, health and social service professionals and community
volunteers, exemplifying and helping build social cohesion at the community level.
Inclusive ECEC services can enhance social solidarity in the long-term through
their impact on children as future adults since early childhood is a critical period
not only for language learning but for the early stages of understanding concepts of
difference and diversity, and establishing the basis for tolerance and acceptance of
difference. Community-based ECEC programs canalso be community institutions
that facilitate parents’ participation in common activities related to the well-being
of their children, strengthening solidarity within a geographic community and
across class, ethnic and racial boundaries. Parents who are new to a neighbourhood
or are new immigrants or refugees can develop friendships, expand their social
networks, access services and supports and contribute to their communities by
participating in community-based early childhood programs that are holistic and
welcoming in their approach and well connected to other community supports and
services. Based on the 1996 census, Statistics Canada has reported that 17 per cent
of the population have a mother tongue other than French or English (1997). ECEC
services provide opportunities to include and unite families from diverse origins
through participation in common environments related to their children,
demonstrating to adults and children alike that co-operation among social classes
and ethnic groups is possible and valued. Thus, social integration across cultural,
racial and linguistic communities in an environment that both informs about and
values diversity can be an important contribution of ECEC programs. Canadian
research shows that “while much needs to be done”, ECE (training) programs “are
beginning to make the required changes” (Bernhard, Lefebvre, Chud & Lange,
1995: 77). In these ways, high quality, inclusive ECEC services that include
parents, coordinate community resources and validate cultural diversity have the
capacity to promote equity among classes, levels of ability, racial and ethnic
groups, and generations, and to enhance social cohesion.

Providing equity for diverse groups in society

The definition of an inclusive society given at the beginning of this paper is key to
this final goal for ECEC services – that of providing equity. If an inclusive society
is one that provides “equality of life chances” as in Sen’s definition, all of ECEC’s
goals and objectives can be seen as linked to the goal of equity either through
development of capabilities or access to society’s resources as have been discussed
in previous sections. For two groups, however – women and children with
disabilities – access to ECEC services is a particularly important equity and social
justice issue. The word “inclusion” has a specific meaning when it is used to refer
to an environment in which children with disabilities, special learning needs and
chronic health problems are welcomed into and are enabled to participate in
programs alongside typically developing peers (Odom, Peck, Hanson, Beckman,
Kaiser, Lieber, Brown, Horn & Schwartz, 1996). The history of inclusive practice
in ECEC (Irwin, 1992; Irwin & Lero 2001) indicates both that progress has been
made to ensure that all children have the opportunity to participate in ECEC
programs, and that there is still a need to ensure that such opportunities are real,
not merely rhetorical. Ensuring the rights of children with disabilities and their
parents is a matter of social justice. Over the last several decades, many countries
have progressed from neglect and institutionalization to the development of
separate schools and facilities, more recently adopting approaches that ensure that
all individuals have the right to full participation in their community and in society
– in schools, workplaces, and public settings, including ECEC programs. For
young children and their parents, the opportunity to participate in and benefit from
appropriate supports is critical for children’s development, for supporting parents
and for normalizing their lives. Research demonstrates that with appropriate
training and specialized support, inclusion in ECEC programs can benefit children
with disabilities especially when teachers promote social integration (Jenkins,
Odom & Speltz, 1989). Effective inclusion of children with disabilities is now
regarded as a characteristic of high quality programs and is becoming well
accepted as a goal and standard of practice. Research conducted in Canada
indicates that most ECEC directors and teaching staff believe that most children
with disabilities can, and should, be accommodated (Irwin & Lero, 2000). That
“childcare is the ramp that provides equal access to the workforce for mothers”
(Abella, 1984: 178) is not a new idea and was discussed in a different context in an
earlier section. However, framing this as an equity issue goes beyond the
pragmatic consideration of whether mothers of young children have access to
childcare so they can be in the workforce. The argument that universal childcare is
required to support women’s equality as a basic citizenship right is associated with
the idea that social rights constitute a key element of citizenship, and that a
woman’s position in the family is important in determining her relationship to the
public sphere. While from a practical point of view, the burden of household and
caring work has huge implications for women’s economic and social status, this in
turn is, as well, a matter of citizenship rights. Additionally, whether or not women
are in the paid labour force, opportunities for personal development, participation
in the community, development of skills and access to a range of formal and
informal supports and services are fundamental to social inclusion and full
citizenship. Thus, ECEC must be a cornerstone of any consideration of women’s
equality. Simply put, without full access to ECEC services, equality for women
cannot be a reality.
Q.3 In your point of view what are purposes of cooperative learning? On
which basis you will recommend/not recommend this teaching strategy?

Answer:
Cooperative learning
Most methods of active learning require the use of cooperative learning as an
essential part of their method. Cooperative learning is the foundation on which
most active learning methods are built. Cooperation is working together to
accomplish shared goals. When cooperating, individuals work to achieve outcomes
that benefit themselves and all other group members. Cooperative learning exists
when small groups of students work to enhance their own and their groupmates’
learning. It is often compared to competitive learning (students working to
accomplish academic goals that only one or a few participants can attain)
and individualistic learning (each student working by him- or herself to complete
assignments). Student efforts are evaluated on a criteria-referenced basis in
cooperative and individualistic learning, while in competitive learning students are
evaluated on a norm-referenced basis. Any learning task in any subject area with
any curriculum may be structured cooperatively, but there are limitations on when
and where competitive and individualistic learning may be used appropriately.
Cooperative learning is largely based on two theories: Structure-Process-Outcome
theory and Social Interdependence theory.

Structure-process-outcome theory
Watson and Johnson theorized that the way a situation is structured determines the
process individuals engage in to complete the task, which determines the outcomes
of the situation. The processes of interaction, in other words, determine outcomes,
not the structure of the situation directly. This theory focuses instructors on
structuring learning goals to create desired processes of interaction among students
and between the students and the instructor. Once the desired processes of
interaction occur, outcomes will tend to automatically result.

Social interdependence theory

A second theory underlying cooperative learning is social interdependence theory.
In the early 1900s Kurt Koffka, proposed that groups were dynamic wholes in
which the interdependence among members could vary. In the 1930s Kurt Lewin
stated that the interdependence among members created by common goals is the
essence of a group. The goal interdependence unites members into a “dynamic
whole,” so that changes in the state of a member or subgroup modify the state of
other members or subgroups. In addition, motivation to accomplish the common
goals results from an intrinsic state of tension within each group member. For
interdependence to exist, there must be more than one person or entity involved,
and the persons or entities must have dynamic impact on each other. In the late
1940s, Morton Deutsch, one of Lewin’s graduate students, extended Lewin’s
reasoning about interdependence and formulated a theory of cooperation and
competition. The authors of this chapter, David (who was a doctoral student of
Deutsch) and Roger Johnson, extended and expanded Deutsch’s theory. It should
be noted that the authors of this chapter (David and Roger Johnson) coined the
term social interdependence theory to describe their expanded version of the theory
of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. Deutsch believed that
social interdependence theory included more than cooperative, competitive, and
individualistic processes, so he reserved the term for a future yet undefined theory.
In his theory of cooperation and competition, Deutsch posits that cooperation is
created by positive goal interdependence, which exists when group members
perceive that they can reach their goals if and only if the other group members also
reach their goals. Competition is created by negative goal interdependence, which
exists when group members perceive that they can obtain their goals if and only if
the other group members fail to obtain their goals. Individualistic efforts are
creative by no goal interdependence, which exists when individuals perceive that
reaching their goal is independent from other individuals attaining their goals.
Positive goal interdependence tends to result in promotive interaction, negative
goal interdependence tends to result in oppositional interaction, and no goal
interdependence results in an absence of interaction. The relationship between the
cooperation and competition and the interaction pattern each elicits tends to be
bidirectional. Each may cause the other.
Four types of cooperative learning have been derived from cooperation and
competition theory. Formal cooperative learning may be implemented to teach
specific content, informal cooperative learning may be implemented to ensure
active cognitive processing of information during direct teaching, cooperative base
groups may be implemented to provide long-term support and assistance, and
constructive controversy may be implemented to create academic, intellectual
conflicts to enhance achievement and creative problem solving.
Formal cooperative learning
Define formal cooperative learning as students working together, for one class
period to several weeks, to achieve mutual learning goals and complete jointly
specific tasks and assignments. Instructors can structure any course requirement or
assignment in any curriculum or subject area for any age student cooperatively. To
structure formal cooperative learning the instructor:
1. Makes a series of decisions about how to structure the learning groups (what
size groups, how students are assigned to groups, what roles to assign, how
to arrange materials, and how to arrange the room). The instructor also
specifies the objectives for the lesson (one academic and one social skills).
2. Teaches the academic content students are expected to master and apply.
The instructor then explains the (a) academic task to be completed, (b) the
criteria used to determine the degree of students’ success, (c) positive
interdependence, (d) individual accountability, and (e) expected student
behaviors.
3. Monitors the functioning of the learning groups and intervenes to (a) teach
needed social skills and (b) provide needed academic assistance.
4. Uses the preset criteria for excellent to evaluate student performance. The
instructor then ensures that groups process how effectively members worked
together.

Informal cooperative learning

Define informal cooperative learning as students working together to achieve a
joint learning goal in temporary, ad-hoc groups that last from a few minutes to one
class period. During direct teaching, such as a lecture, demonstration, or video, the
teacher structures informal cooperative learning groups. Students engage in three-
to-five minutes focused discussions before and after the direct teaching and three-
to-five minutes turn-to-your-partner discussions interspersed throughout the direct
teaching. Informal cooperative learning can create a mood conducive to learning,
focus student attention on the material to be learned, set expectations as to what
will be covered in a class session, ensure that students cognitively process the
material being taught, and provide closure to an instructional session. During direct
teaching the instructor needs to ensure that students do the intellectual work of
explaining what they are learning, conceptually organizing the material,
summarizing it, and integrating it into existing conceptual frameworks.

Cooperative base groups

Cooperative base groups are long-term, heterogeneous cooperative learning groups
with stable membership in which students provide one another with support,
encouragement, and assistance to make academic progress by attending class,
completing assignments, learning assigned material). The use of base groups tends
to improve attendance, personalizes the work required and the school experience,
and improves the quality and quantity of learning. Base groups have permanent
membership and provide the long-term caring peer relationships necessary to help
students developed in healthy ways cognitively and socially as well as influence
members to exert effort in striving to achieve. Base groups formally meet to
provide help and assistance to each other, verify that each member is completing
assignments and progressing satisfactory through the academic program, and
discuss the academic progress of each member. It is especially important to have
base groups in large classes or schools and when the subject matter is complex and
difficult.

Constructive controversy
Johnson and Johnson define constructive controversy as one person’s ideas,
information, conclusions, theories, and opinions being incompatible with those of
another, and the two seek to reach an agreement that reflects their best reasoned
judgment. Constructive controversy involves the discussion of the advantages and
disadvantages of proposed actions aimed at synthesizing novel and creative
solutions. It also involves dissent and argumentation. Dissent may be defined as
differing in opinion or conclusion, especially from the majority. Argumentation is
a social process in which two or more individuals engage in a dialog where
arguments are constructed, presented, and critiqued. The theory underlying
constructive controversy states that the way conflict is structured within situations
determines how individuals interact with each other, which in turn determines the
quality of the outcomes. Intellectual conflict maybe structured along a continuum,
with concurrence seeking at one end and constructive controversy at the other. The
process of concurrence seeking involves avoiding open disagreement to conform to
the majority opinion and reach a public consensus. The process of controversy
involves utilizing the conflict among positions to achieve a synthesis or a creative
integration of the various positions. The outcomes generated by the process of
controversy tend to include higher quality decision making and achievement,
greater creativity, higher cognitive and moral reasoning, greater motivation to
improve understanding, more positive relationships and social support, and more
democratic values. The conditions mediating the effects of the controversy process
include a cooperative context, heterogeneity among members, skilled
disagreement, and rational argument.
When used in combination, cooperative formal, informal, base groups, and
constructive controversy provide an overall structure for school learning.

Outcomes of cooperative learning

Cooperative efforts result in numerous outcomes that may be subsumed into three
broad categories: effort to achieve, positive interpersonal relationships, and
psychological adjustment. The social interdependence research has considerable
generalizability as (a) research participants have varied as to economic class, age,
gender, and culture, (b) research tasks and measures of the dependent variables
have varied widely, and (c) many different researchers with markedly different
orientations working in different settings and in different decades have conducted
the studies. We now have over 1200 studies on cooperative, competitive, and
individualistic efforts from which we can derive effect sizes. This is far more
evidence than exists for most other aspects of human interaction.
Cooperating to achieve a common goal result in higher achievement and greater
productivity compared to competitive or individualistic efforts. There is so much
research that confirms this finding that it stands as one of the strongest principles
of social and organizational psychology. Cooperation also resulted in more
frequent generation of new ideas and solutions (i.e., process gain), more higher-
level reasoning, and greater transfer of what is learned (i.e., group to individual
transfer) than competitive or individualistic efforts. The superiority of cooperative
efforts (as compared to competitive and individualistic efforts) increased as the
task became more conceptual, the more higher-level reasoning and critical thinking
was required, the more desired was problem solving, the more creativity was
desired, the more long-term retention was required, and the greater the need for
application of what was learned.
More positive and committed relationships develop in cooperative than in
competitive or individualistic situations. This is true when individuals are
homogeneous. It is also true when individuals differ in ethnic membership,
intellectual ability, handicapping conditions, culture, social class, and gender.
Cooperative learning tends to be essential for classes with diverse students from
different ethnic groups and handicapping conditions. The more positive
relationships that result from cooperative learning tends to reduce absenteeism and
turnover, increase member commitment to academic goals, increase feelings of
personal responsibility to the group and school, increase willingness to take on
difficult tasks, increase motivation to achieve and persistence in working toward
goal achievement, increase morale, increase readiness to endure pain and
frustration on behalf of the group, increase readiness to defend the group against
external criticism or attack, increase readiness to listen to and be influenced by
classmates, increase commitment to each other’s academic success, and increases
academic productivity. Cooperating on a task, compared to competing or working
individualistically, also results in more task-oriented and personal social support.
Working cooperatively with peers, and valuing cooperation, results in greater
psychological health and higher self-esteem than does competing with peers or
working independently. Personal ego-strength, self-confidence, independence, and
autonomy are all promoted by being involved in cooperative efforts with caring
people, who are committed to each other’s success and well-being. When
individuals work together to complete assignments, through their interaction they
master needed social skills and competencies, promote each other’s success
(gaining self-worth), and form both academic and personal relationships (creating
the basis for healthy social development).
When schools are dominated by cooperative efforts, students’ psychological
adjustment and health tend to increase. The more students cooperate with each
other, the higher tends to be their self-esteem, productivity, acceptance and support
of classmates, and autonomy and independence. Working cooperatively with peers
is not a luxury. It is an absolute necessity for students’ healthy development and
ability to function independently.

Basic elements of cooperative learning lessons

Five basic elements for designing cooperative learning lessons have been derived
from Social Interdependence theory and Structure-Process-Outcome theory and the
research on social interdependence. The five basic elements that are required in
any cooperative learning lesson are: positive interdependence, individual
accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing.
Positive interdependence is the heart of cooperative efforts. Students must perceive
that (a) they are linked with groupmates in a way so that they cannot succeed
unless their groupmates do (and vice versa) and (b) groupmates’ work benefits
them and their work benefits their groupmates. Positive interdependence among
students must be structured into the lesson for it to be cooperative. While every
lesson must contain positive goal interdependence, positive interdependence may
also be structured through mutual rewards, distributed resources, complementary
roles, a mutual identity, and other methods of structuring positive interdependence.
Each group member is individually accountable to contribute his or her fair share
of the group’s work. Individual accountability exists when the performance of each
individual student is assessed and the results are given back as feedback to the
group and the individual. Individual accountability includes completing one’s
share of the work and facilitating the work of other group members. A purpose of
cooperative learning is to make each group member a stronger individual. There is
considerable group-to-individual transfer. Students learn together so that they can
subsequently perform higher as individuals. Individual accountability may be
structured by (a) observing students as they work together and documenting the
contributions of each member, (b) having each student explain what they have
learned to a classmate, or (c) giving an individual test to each student.
Students promote each other’s success by helping, assisting, praising, encouraging,
and supporting each other’s efforts to learn. Doing so results in such cognitive
processes as discussing the nature of the concepts being learned, orally explaining
to others how to solve problems, teaching one’s knowledge to classmates,
challenging each other’s reasoning and conclusions, and connecting present with
past learning. Promotive interaction also includes interpersonal processes such as
supporting and encouraging efforts to learn, jointly celebrating the group’s success,
and modeling appropriate use of social skills.
Contributing to the success of a cooperative effort requires interpersonal and small
group skills. In cooperative learning groups, students are expected to use social
skills appropriately. Leadership, trust-building, communication, decision-making,
and conflict-management skills have to be taught just as purposefully and precisely
as academic skills.
Finally, students need to engage in group processing. Group processing may be
defined as the examination of the effectiveness of the process members use to
maximize their own and each other’s learning, so that ways to improve the process
may be identified. Group members need to (a) describe what member actions are
helpful and unhelpful in ensuring that all group members (a) achieve and maintain
effective working relationships, (b) decide what behaviors to continue or change
and (c) celebrate group members’ hard work and success.
These five basic elements are the educator’s best resource. They enable instructors
to (a) structure for cooperative learning any lesson in any subject area with any set
of curriculum materials, (b) fine-tune and adapt cooperative learning to their
specific students, needs, and circumstances, and (c) intervene in malfunctioning
groups to improve their effectiveness. These five essential elements allow
instructors to structure any lesson for student activeness and engagement. It is only
when these five aspects are carefully structured in a lesson that the lesson becomes
truly cooperative and students become active and engaged.

Return to active learning

Characteristics of active learning are that students engage in dialogs, interact with
classmates in small groups, generate new ideas and cognitive structures within the
groups, and coordinate with groupmates as to the direction and speed of the work.
Active learning typically requires a learning partner or a small group in which the
information being learned is analyzed, synthesizes, evaluated during discussions.
In a discussion, students construct new cognitive structures or access their existing
ones to subsume the new information and experiences.
It is clear from the research that having students compete with each other will
result in students opposing each other’s learning, thereby reducing their motivation
and achievement. It is also clear that having students work alone without
interacting with classmates will have students being indifferent to each other’s
learning, also reducing their motivation and learning. What does increase
motivation and achievement is cooperative learning. In cooperative learning
lessons, students are assigned to small groups (usually two, three, or four
members) and given an assignment to complete (such as solving a problem or
mastering a set of procedures). Working cooperatively with classmates to solve a
problem is far more effective than competing with classmates or working by
oneself to solve the problem. It is the cooperative structure that promotes students
to engage cognitively and emotionally with other students, the task assigned, and
the materials or resources used to complete the task. Doing so allows students to
construct, discover, and transform their own knowledge.
Students are engaged in a learning task when they exert effort to complete the task
successfully, focus on the task, are curious about the task and its content, persist in
completing the task, and use higher-level cognitive strategies in completing the
task. Students engaged in cooperative learning activities tend to engage in more
on-task behavior (and therefore are more engaged, behaviorally, cognitively, and
emotionally) than do students participating in competitive or individualistic
learning activities.
Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work
together to maximize their own and each other’s learning. Cooperative learning is
based on two theories: Structure-Process-Outcome theory and Social
Interdependence theory. There are four types of cooperative learning: formal
cooperative learning, informal cooperative learning, cooperative base groups, and
constructive controversy. To be cooperative, five basic elements need to be
structured into the learning situation: positive interdependence, individual
accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing.
Cooperative learning, compared with competitive or individualistic learning, tends
to result in students exerting more effort to learn, building more positive
relationships with classmates, and improving their psychological health.
Q.4 Describe in detail types of in-classrooms debating techniques. For each
type, develop a scenario.
Answer
Classroom Debates
Using debates in the classroom provide students the opportunity to work in a
collaborative and cooperative group setting. By having students discuss and
organize their points of view for one side of an argument they are able to discover
new information and put knowledge into action. Classroom debates help students
learn through friendly competition, examine controversial topics and “strengthen
skills in the areas of leadership, interpersonal influence, teambuilding, group
problem solving, and oral presentation”

By having students discuss and organize their points of view for one side of an
argument they are able to discover new information and put knowledge into action.

Debates can be used in all disciplines on a wide range of topics. Here are some
examples of subject matter topics for debate which can easily be adapted for a
variety of subject areas.
 Arts - There should no restrictions upon artistic expression
 Business - Corporations should be abolished
 Education - Intelligence testing is without value
 Engineering - Only bridges over waterways need to be routinely inspected
 Sociology - It is morally okay to break laws you don't agree with
 English - Language is not a skill
 Geology - Mountain top mining is good for the economy
 Health - There is nothing morally wrong with doing drugs
 Mathematics - Elementary school mathematics should be confined largely to
arithmetic
 Science - The theory of evolution is based on both science and faith
Debate Format
Teams work well for classroom debates but two students can be paired as well.
Adapt the following format to fit your specific goals and objectives. Adding a
third, shorter round will allow teams to further defend their arguments.
Alternatively, have all students prepare both a pro and con position for a
designated class session. During this class period two teams are randomly selected
who will then state their arguments. The other students will contribute differing
remarks and suggestions for a more active and well-prepared class discussion.

Round One
1. Team One - 10 Minutes - Presentation of "Pro/positive" or "Arguments for"
2. Team Two - 10 Minutes - Presentation of "Con/negative" or "Arguments
against"
Team Discussion Period
5 Minutes
This period is used for teams to prepare their responses
Round Two
1. Team One - 5 Minutes - Response or rebuttal of "Pro/positive" or
"Arguments for"
2. Team Two - 5 Minutes - Response or rebuttal of "Con/negative" or
"Arguments against"

Whole Class Discussion

To determine which team provided the most convincing arguments. A vote can be
taken or a more detailed evaluation form can be used to assess each team. (10-15
minutes)
Note: Explain to the students that the success behind using debates in the
classroom is not in winning and losing but rather how well teams prepared for and
delivered their arguments and get potential buy-in from those who help
the opposite point-of view.
The success behind using debates in the classroom is not in winning and losing but
rather how well team prepared for and delivered their arguments.
1. Prepare guidelines and a set of rules to assist students as they prepare for the
debate.
a. Include a time frame in which they have to prepare for the debate and
how they are to present their material.
b. Allow non-debate students to be adjudicators to help them learn how
to be objective in rating their peers’ performance.
c. Determine if non-debating students will be allowed to vote.
2. Provide resources which will help students learn about debates and their
structure.
3. Consider holding a practice debate to help students understand the process.
4. Select the format you plan to use: teams, individual students, all students
(see format above).Consider having students prepare brief “position papers”
which also includes their reaction to the debate process and how they were
able to reach consensus in their team’s arguments.
5. Research controversial, news-breaking and stimulating topics to encourage
dynamic and energized classroom discussion. Students are more likely to be
authentic when they debate a subject to which they can relate.
6. Review the debate process previously established and ask for questions and
clarifications on the day of the debate.
7. Prepare rating rubrics and distribute to adjudicators before the debate begins.
8. Begin the debate, giving students as much autonomy as possible.
9. Distribute both student and instructor evaluations to the teams. Facilitate
classroom discussion and debrief the process at the end of the debate.

10.Have a plan in place if the debate gets “hot” and students argue instead of
debate. Review guidelines before the debate begins to minimize
 inappropriate discussion and behavior. Also, getting to know your students
through observation and actively listening to their classroom conversations
can provide helpful information when selecting topics for debate.

Students are more likely to be authentic when they debate a subject to which they
can relate.

Debate techniques for the workplace

Here are 11 debate techniques and how you can use them in a professional context:
1. Define your audience
When you're in a debate at work, one of your main audience members is the person
you're debating. Consider their position and beliefs to determine how you can get
them to sympathize with your points. For instance, if you debate your supervisor,
you might design your argument to appeal to their desire for increased
productivity.
Realize that your workplace debate may have additional audience members other
than the person you're debating. If you want to convince listeners of your points,
consider appealing to their desires as well. Catering to your audience's wants may
make your points more compelling and foster support for your argument. When the
person you're debating sees that your claim appeals to others, they may better
understand your position.
2. Commit to a single claim
Workplace debates tend to address many issues, but consider committing to a
single claim. By dedicating your energy and research to one claim, you can build
the most effective argument possible and maintain your audience's attention. For
instance, a representative might have a meeting with a potential client. Instead of
promoting multiple services, they may focus on selling a single service they
believe is of the most interest to the client. The goal is for the client to see the
value in this service and hire the company. Once the client enters this relationship,
they may be more receptive to additional services.
3. Structure your argument around your claim
Once you establish the single claim you want to address, consider structuring your
entire argument around it. Many professionals develop three main points to support
their larger claims, using evidence and logic to deliver each point. Focusing on
relevant topics can help you remain organized and ensure your opponent and
listeners understand your argument.
For instance, an employee might want to convince their team to use a certain
process to complete a project. Their argument can focus on the benefits of the
process, such as increased productivity, improved communication and better
deliverables. By using evidence and logic to prove the validity of these benefits,
the employee can convince their team to use the proposed process.

4. Incorporate research
Research is one of the most effective tools for creating a compelling argument.
When you use data to support your points, listeners might deem your claims as
more valid. Conducting research also helps you understand multiple perspectives
and address competing claims. By using credible industry sources, you can support
your argument with relevant, accurate evidence. A presenter at a health conference
might cite statistics from a well-known health organization, allowing them to gain
trust from the audience. These statistics can also help them demonstrate the
relevance of their topic and make their argument more compelling.
5. Anticipate opposing claims
As you prepare for your debate, consider anticipating opposing claims.
Researching different perspectives can help you counter your opponent's
arguments. It can also help you understand where you and your opponent agree.
For instance, imagine that you're in a debate over the best attendance policy. You
discover that you and your opponent have similar goals, such as increased
attendance and productivity. The disagreement is the best way to achieve this goal,
leading you and your opponent to advocate for different policies. During the
debate, explain how your policy would be more effective than theirs for addressing
increased attendance and productivity.
Another way to anticipate opposing claims is to look at other claims besides your
opponent's beliefs. Your audience may support a perspective that neither you nor
your opponent does. By addressing this argument, you can explain why your
solution is the best of all available options.
6. Address your argument's flaws
If your opponent adequately prepares for the debate, they may be ready to counter
your argument's weak points. Try to be proactive by admitting these flaws and
providing appropriate solutions. This action shows that you support your claim
even after considering its weaknesses. For instance, an employee might advocate
for a bigger project budget and admit that it would divert funding from another
department. They can demonstrate that the benefits that would outweigh the cons
of reduced funding to the other department. They can also propose that the other
department use existing resources to compensate for the budget reduction.
7. Ask questions
By asking questions in a debate, you can allow your opponent to provide clarity
and effectively address their argument. Asking questions also helps you verify the
quality of opposing evidence. For instance, you could ask your opponent where
they obtained a statistic or how they would respond to your counterargument.
Many professionals prepare questions before the debate to ensure they understand
their opponent's main points, though you can also think of questions during the
debate.
8. Answer questions directly
Your opponent may ask questions to better understand your perspective or address
your claim's weaknesses. By answering questions directly, you can demonstrate
that you're listening to your opponent and care about providing relevant responses.
Try to understand the question and ask for clarification if you're unsure what your
opponent means. If you're unsure how to answer, consider being honest and saying
that you want to return to the question when you have the right information.
9. Tell a story
If you want to make your argument memorable, consider telling a story. A story at
the beginning can intrigue your audience and ensure it remembers details long after
the debate ends. You can also incorporate anecdotes throughout your argument to
support your main points. When telling a story, try to choose a narrative that's
relatable to your audience. It can address an interest or concern that most listeners
have in common.
For instance, someone advocating for a better work-life balance may begin their
debate with a story. They can describe an employee who wants to have more free
time, which might resonate with many people within their company. The rest of
their argument may be more compelling, as the presenter has addressed one of the
audience's concerns.

10. Choose the right tone

The right tone for your argument is largely dependent on the topic. If you're
discussing something serious, like workplace discrimination, consider using a more
formal tone. Being thorough and direct helps you remain respectful while
conveying your main points. For a less serious topic, you might use an informal
tone. Imagining that you're speaking to a friend can help your audience become
more receptive. Some speakers even incorporate humor to relate to their listeners.
11. Deliver a strong conclusion
As the debate ends, consider delivering an effective conclusion. A summary helps
your audience understand what your main points are and remember what you
discussed. You can start by briefly summarizing your evidence and including short
rebuttals to your opponent's main claims. Try to include a concise statement that
encapsulates your main argument and end with a call to action. A call to action is a
statement that motivates your listeners to do something. For instance, you might
ask listeners to change their work habits or petition a supervisor to adopt a new
policy.

Debate strategies to avoid

To make your debates as compelling as possible, try to forgo using these four
tactics that may undermine the validity of your argument:
1. Using logical fallacies
Logical fallacies are inconsistent with standard reasoning and can make your
argument less effective. Before your debate, consider checking your argument for
logical fallacies. Imagine that you disagree with your claim and determine how you
would counter it. This critical thinking can help you notice fallacies like appeals to
emotion or authority. Then, you can make your argument stronger by reorganizing
your claims or incorporating more credible evidence.

2. Challenging your opponent instead of their argument

Challenging your opponent instead of their argument can affect your credibility
and ability to remain respectful. As you present your counterargument, try to focus
on disproving your opponent's claims. You can present evidence or question the
authority of your opponent's sources without addressing that their demographics or
beliefs might affect their argument.
3. Reading from your notes
Notes can help you remember your main points, but try not to read directly from
the paper. You can make your argument more compelling by interacting with your
opponent. Developing authentic responses to their questions shows attentiveness to
their claims and allows you to consider new evidence.

4. Making assumptions
Some speakers assume that their opponents define terms the same way that they
do. If you want to reduce the chance for misunderstandings, consider defining
important terms at the beginning of the debate. Agreeing on definitions for even
the simplest of terms can help you effectively communicate your claims.
Q.5 Describe in detail the salient features of Peter’s Four Step Model of
professional development.

Answer:
The Peter Principle is an observation that the tendency in most
organizational hierarchies, such as that of a corporation, is for every employee to
rise in the hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective
incompetence.
In other words, a front-office secretary who is quite good at their job may thus be
promoted to executive assistant to the CEO which they are not trained or prepared
for—meaning that the secretary would be more productive if they had not been
promoted.
The Peter Principle is thus based on the paradoxical idea that
competent employees will continue to be promoted, but at some point will be
promoted into positions for which they are incompetent, and they will then remain
in those positions because of the fact that they do not demonstrate any further
competence that would get them recognized for additional promotion.
According to the Peter Principle, every position in a given hierarchy will
eventually be filled by employees who are incompetent to fulfill the job duties of
their respective positions.
Understanding the Peter Principle
The Peter Principle was laid out by Canadian educational scholar and sociologist,
Dr. Laurence J. Peter, in his 1968 book titled The Peter Principle. Dr. Peter stated
in his book that an employee's inability to fulfill the requirements of a given
position that he is promoted to may not be the result of general incompetence on
the part of the employee as much as it is due to the fact that the position simply
requires different skills than those the employee actually possesses.
For example, an employee who is very good at following rules or company
policies may be promoted into the position of creating rules or policies, despite the
fact that being a good rule follower does not mean that an individual is well-suited
to be a good rule creator.
Dr. Peter summed up the Peter Principle with a twist on the old adage that "the
cream rises to the top" by stating that "the cream rises until it sours." In other
words, excellent employee performance is inevitably promoted to the point where
the employee's performance is no longer excellent, or even satisfactory.
According to the Peter Principle, competence is rewarded with promotion because
competence, in the form of employee output, is noticeable, and thus usually
recognized. However, once an employee reaches a position in which they are
incompetent, they are no longer evaluated based on their output but instead are
evaluated on input factors, such as arriving at work on time and having a good
attitude.
Dr. Peter further argued that employees tend to remain in positions for which they
are incompetent because mere incompetence is rarely sufficient to cause the
employee to be fired from the position. Ordinarily, only extreme incompetence
causes dismissal.
A possible solution to the problem posed by the Peter Principle is for companies to
provide adequate skills training for employees both before and after receiving a
promotion, and to ensure the training is appropriate for the position to which they
have been promoted.
It is also important to carefully assess the job skills of all candidates, especially for
internal promotions. Many valuable skill sets do not transfer well to higher
positions—for example, a person may be an exceptionally skilled engineer but lack
the social skills to be an effective manager. Having a clear picture of the
employee's skills will allow the company to find placements that suit their
interests.
However, Dr. Peter pessimistically predicted that even good employee training is
ultimately unable to overcome the general tendency of organizations to promote
employees to positions of incompetence, which he refers to as positions of "final
placement." Promoting people at random has been another proposal, but one that
does not always sit well with employees.
Professional Development Planning Steps
Use the following steps to create a professional development plan with your
employee. Feel free to use the example professional development plans (listed
above) to assist you in the process.
 Step One: Request a self-assessment from the staff member
 Step Two: Develop your assessment of the individual's skill level
 Step Three: Assess the department and organization's needs
 Step Four: Explore development opportunities with the staff member
 Step Five: Record and analyze the staff member's progress
Step One: Request a self-assessment from the staff member
Have the staff member complete a self-assessment of their interests, skills, values,
and personality. Use the sample performance planning and self-assessment forms
listed to the right to assist in the process. When evaluating the staff member's
responses, keep these questions in mind:
 What skills, career opportunities, technologies interest the individual?
 Do those skills/interests/goals support the organization's needs and goals?
 What are the short and long term steps to get there?
Step Two: Develop your assessment of the individual's skill level
Based on the staff member's self-assessment, their work record, and your own
observations, determine the staff member's skill level in the following categories:
 Technical skills: skills needed to get the job done.
 Social skills: how do they work with others?
 Aptitudes: natural talents; special abilities for doing, or learning to do,
certain kinds of things.
 Attitude: outlook, feelings, mind-set, way of thinking, and point of view.
Step Three: Assess the department and organization's needs
In order for professional development to be successful, the staff member's needs
and interests must be applied to address organizational objectives. The staff
member's career path must align with the organization's workforce needs. In
creating a professional development plan, consider the following goals:
 Big Duke" goals
 Departmental goals
 Team goals
 Individual goals
Step Four: Explore development opportunities with the staff member
Explore the professional development opportunities available at Duke with your
staff member. Some examples include:
 Professional Development Academy - The Professional Development
Academy is a center dedicated to providing professional development
training programs and resources for staff that supports identified staffing
needs across Duke. The Academy offers long-term training programs with a
tailored curriculum designed to develop skills and capabilities needed to fill
identified job opportunities across Duke.
 New Projects & Responsibilities - Explore what new projects and
responsibilities the staff member can assist with in their own department.
Staff members can use such opportunities to develop new skills such as web
design, business writing, and project management.
 Workshops & Seminars - Learning & Organizational Development offers a
variety of workshops and seminars that help an staff member develop their
work and computer technology skills
 Educational Opportunities - There are a variety of educational opportunities
available at Duke and in the Durham area. For a list of available resources,
please refer to Training.
 Volunteer Opportunities - Volunteer opportunities can present a unique way
for an staff member to develop certain professional skills. Search the Duke
Today web site for a list of volunteer opportunities at Duke (look under the
"Volunteer Opportunities" tab).
 Mentorship - Interested staff can be paired with mentors for a variety of
activities including information interviews, shadowing, tutorials, etc. For
 more mentoring resources, please visit the Mentoring @ Duke web site. The
Professional Development Academy can also provide assistance with
determining professional goals before you seek a mentoring relationship.
Step Five: Record and analyze the staff member's progress
Collect feedback from the staff member about their development progress to assist
in identifying what the staff member is doing well, build on their skills, correct any
problems that may arise, and help them develop new abilities that will improve
personal performance as well as organizational outcomes.
Use a Performance Log for tracking, recording and providing feedback from the
staff member. Record dates, events, expectations, and the impact of action steps on
their development. Make sure to record:
 Observations of enhanced skills or knowledge and how they were applied.
 Progress towards goals and objectives.
 Observations where skills / knowledge could be applied - use for future
discussion.