Framing the Conversation on Competencies

A critical and foundational part of community making is the intentional act of co-creating a shared language. As such, one of the initial activities that the CoP group engaged with involved a free association activity guided by the following prompt: What comes to mind when you hear the word “competency?” Faculty were encouraged to use words, phrases, and/or images in this generative process.

The following image is from the Jamboard that we created:

We replicated this activity to create our shared language, clarify meaning, and to help define terms throughout our time together as a CoP. Terms and examples where we used this free association activity include: transformative learning, curriculum, ways of being and becoming, as well as some of the specific competencies that were being explored as new possibilities within our PSB competency framework, such as humility, research, innovation, digital fluency, social responsibility, and ethics.

Framing the Conversation in Courses

Students and faculty alike are engaged in ongoing conversations about competencies and the importance of developing competence intentionally. The example below is excerpted from the Undergraduate Competency Development (UCD) course to illustrate how competencies are both distinguished and connected to skills, knowledge, and values and explicitly framed in the first-year experience. We place a great deal of importance on situating competencies over content in our design and facilitation of learning and teaching experiences and drawing attention to synergies that exist with an outcomes-based pedagogy.

Co-Creating Attributes for Competency Profiles

Our CoP engaged in a 5-step process over a series of months to co-create the competency profiles for the five competency areas in our framework. The five main steps involved the following components:

(1) Generating ideas about the competency area;

(2) Defining competency profiles;

(3) Articulating attributes;

(4) Aligning with course knowledge, skills, and values;

(5) Sharing artifacts from courses.

This is what the 5-step process looked like in more detail:

1. 1. Starting with collaboration competency, the group generated ideas about the competency with critical prompts such as, “What comes up for you when you hear the word “collaboration?” What does that look like, feel like, and sound like in the context of the courses that you teach? What does collaboration mean to you?” Faculty were encouraged in an act of free association using words, visuals, and our phrases to capture their ideas. From there, they were asked to circle and highlight or build upon other responses in a process of co-constructing a working definition of collaboration.
      
   2. From the brainstorming activity in step 1, faculty were asked to select the attributes (qualities and characteristics) that they thought should be part of our working definition. The curation of ideas resulted in an iterative process where we refined and revised language and came to an agreement on what should stay and what should go.
   3. The next step in the process required that faculty categorize the dimensions of the collaboration competency as knowledge, skills, and/or values. Here is what one small group came up with in their virtual breakout session:
      
   4. We then spent some time aligning the identified and categorized Knowledge, Skills, and Values for the Collaboration competency with the Learning Outcomes of the individual courses they were teaching in the BBA program.
   5. The final stage of the five-step process involved locating teaching and learning artifacts that provided evidence of the competency informed approaches in terms of assessment, activities, facilitative approach, learner experience, etc. Some of these artifacts are shared in this OER and the others are forming the basis of an emerging and robust faculty development program in PSB.

This iterative 5-step process resulted in our PSB Competency Framework, which includes the following areas:

(1) Collaboration and Communication

(2) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

(3) Initiative and Leadership

(4) Research and Innovation

(5) Social Responsibility and Ethics

Surrounding the framework is reflective practice, which is integrated and ideally infused in all of the competency areas through teaching, learning, and assessment.

Competency Cards

The competency cards have been designed for educators and learners alike, in both digital and analog applications, for use inside and outside the classroom, and in informal and formal learning spaces/ places. The cards are colour coded according to the Pilon School of Business core competency framework, and the associated attributes.

The competency areas in the framework include: communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, social responsibility and ethics, initiative and leadership, research and innovation. At the centre of the framework is reflective practice, which is integrated and ideally infused in all the competency areas. The competency cards were created as a digital deck in our Learning Management System and as a physical deck (see the prototype below).

We have created a Competency Cards Facilitator Guide that will serve as a living document and continue to be curated and populated with exemplars and suggested activities from the CoP groups within the Pilon School of Business. The guide highlights the Competency Areas for the framework, as well as the attribute (micro-competency) cards, and the Ideas-Connections-Extension cards with a series of critical prompts based on the ICE model (Fostaty Young & Troop, 2021).

Competency Cards: Piloting in Courses

The Competency Cards are currently being piloted in BBA courses. We continue to gather feedback and insights from our faculty and learners that inform the continuous enhancement of this competency development resource. Below is an example from our UCD course that highlights an introduction to the cards and an activity that offers learners an opportunity to explore and experiment in various competency and attribute areas.