Higher Education Academy Professional Recognition Scheme

The UK based Higher Education Academy (HEA) runs the HEA Professional Recognition Scheme.
This is intended to lift the professionalism of university teaching. The scheme is aligned to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). There are four levels of recognition (and typical job descriptions):

1. AFHEA – Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Graduate Teaching Assistant)
2. FHEA – Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Lecturer)
3. SFHEA - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (academic leader or middle management)
4. PFHEA – Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (senior leader)

The HEA is promoting their scheme internationally, with the Australian National University the first Australian subscribing institution. The HEA is more general than the Certified Membership Scheme run by UK Association for Learning Technology (ALT), which was also extended to Australia last year. The way the HEAPRS/UKPSF is structured is similar to schemes run for other professions, such as ACS CP/IP3/SFIA for computer professionals.

UK Professional Standards Framework

The UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) consists of:

Framework 

An Introduction.

Descriptors 

Four categories of level of teaching responsibility, corresponding to the four levels of HEA recognition:

1. Associate
2. Fellow
3. Senior Fellow
4. Principal Fellow

Dimensions of Practice 

Three dimensions of practice:

1. Areas of activity:
   
   1. Design and plan learning activities and/or programmes of study
   2. Teach and/or support learning
   3. Assess and give feedback to learners
   4. Develop effective learning environments and approaches to student support and guidance
   5. Engage in continuing professional development in subjects/disciplines and their pedagogy, incorporating research, scholarship and the evaluation of professional practices
2. Aspects of Core knowledge:
   1. The subject material
   2. Appropriate methods for teaching and learning in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme
   3. How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)  
   4. The use and value of appropriate learning technologies
   5. Methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching
   6. The implications of quality assurance and quality enhancement for academic and professional practice with a particular focus on teaching
3. Professional values:
   1. Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities   
   2. Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners
   3. Use evidence-informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development
   4. Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice

Recognition of Prior Learning for University Teachers

Greetings from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, where Richard Brawn, Head of the HEA's Teacher Excellence Team, is speaking on "Recognising and Promoting Staff Expertise in Teaching and Learning: the UK experience". The ANU is a subscribing institution of the UK Higher Education Academy (HEA). The HEA has a Professional Standards Framework (PSF) and HEA Fellowship. It should be noted that this is a separate program to the Certified Membership Scheme run by UK Association for Learning Technology (ALT), which was extended to Australia last year.

HEA's process is similar to Recognition to Prior Learning using an e-portfolio for Australian vocation teachers. In terms of positioning the organization, the ANU would see itself similar to the UK University of Cambridge, at least in the field of computing. Richard did not mention Cambridge, but I did a quick search and found a Higher Education Academy Briefing, scheduled for 13 May 2013.

The process, as Richard describes it, also has similarities to the Australian Computer Society's processes for promoting professionalism. It would be interesting to explore coordination between education certification and other professional certifications, including computing.

HEA Fellowships do not replace tertiary qualifications in Higher Education for ANU staff. The ANU Certificate of Higher Education was discontinued, but ANU staff can enroll in a program at another university to obtain tertiary qualifications in Higher Education (I undertook half my GCHE at USQ on-line).

At present I am certified by the ACS as a computer professional, have just finished the current ANU HE Certificate, applied for certification to teach in the vocational sector. If I need to be certified again through a UK based process to teach in a university, the regulatory burden starts to become high. It would be useful if these certifications were aligned. The ACS has achieved such an alignment internationally, through the "Seoul Accord", for IT professionals.

What can make such RPL processes easier is good on-line support. Learning Management Systems, such as Moodle, with  an e-portfolio package, such as Mahara, can be used for this.

Portfollio for Professional Learning Technology Certification

The UK based Association for Learning Technology (ALT) last year announced extending their Certified Membership of the Association for Learning Technology (CMALT) to Australia. The CMALT process might make a good model for other portfolio based accreditation processes. For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research.

CMALT support for candidates and assessors

CMALT provides support for both the candidates and the assessors. Often such assessment schemes fall down because they assume that those doing the assessment know what to do. But just because someone is an expert in the area being assessed, that does not mean they know how to do assessment. Even those familiar with exam based assessment will need some help assessing a portfolio.

CMALT Provide:

1. CMALT Prospectus: a guide to the process for candidates
2. CMALT Community: An on-line forum for candidates to get mutual support. On the Crowdvine platform.
3. Information for CMALT candidates: A short document to start the portfolio process.
4. CMALT webinar: A live on-line session every few weeks, with questions and answers. There appears to be no stored alternative offered, for those who cannot attend the live webinar. Also there does not appear to be an on-line non-real-time forum for questions and answers.
5. Guidelines for CMALT candidates and assessors: More detail on requirements for CMALT.
6. FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
7. CMALT Development Group: The email addresses of the individual developers of the CMAL process are provided for queries. This is an unusual personal touch for such a process, which usually has an anonymous administrative point of contact.
8. Portfolio submission form: A Microsoft Word document set up with fields to be completed (I was able to use LibreOffice to fill in the form).
9. Email address: For submitting the form. It is curious that ALT are not using a Learning Management System, such as Moodle for managing the student interaction and document submission.

Assessors are recruited from those who have already been through the CMALT process and are thus familiar with it (as well as being certified in the subject matter). In addition to the material for candidates, assessors are offered:

• CMALT webinar for assessors: A live on-line session, with questions and answers. It is not clear how often these are held (there were three webinars for candidates listed on the ALT Events Page, but none for assessors).
• Assessment form: A Microsoft Word based form. The form is clearly alid out and only two pages long. However, it appears that two people need to fill out the one form: Lead and Second Assessor, which would complicate the process. The new Outcomes feature in Moodle 2 might be a better way to accomplish this.

ICT E-portfolios for Higher Degrees

For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research. The Certified Member Association for Learning Technology Program, the Professional Practice Subject of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Certified Professional Program and ACS Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Application process all use some form of portfolio.

The ACS Professional Practice Subject of the Certified Professional Program requires four components:

1. Skill self assessment: the student assesses their own current skills against the Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) framework. Students are required to have reached SFIA Level 4 (generic skills:
   autonomy, influence, complexity and business skills) before commencing the activity.
2. Career plan: the student has to identify three areas to develop over the following five years, with  a plan for development,
3. Professional profile: the student prepares a professional profile in preparation for career advancement,
4. Reflective journal: the student records a weekly reflections on what they have learned, their skills, and workplace experience.

The guidelines allow for 1 to 3 hours per week for up to 52 weeks for the preparation of the Professional Practice.

The ACS "Key Areas of Knowledge" document provides a list of topics for applicants for membership to address in an application for RPL:

ACS Key Areas of Knowledge

1. Technology Resources (TR)
   • TR1. Hardware and software fundamentals
   • TR2. Data and information management
   • TR3. Networking
2. Technology Building (TB)
   • TB1. Programming
   • TB2. Human-computer interaction
   • TB3 & TB4.System development and acquisition
3. Services Management (SM)
   • SM1. Service management
   • SM2. Security management
4. Outcomes Management (OM)
   • OM1. Organisational and Management Concepts
   • OM2. Change management

As these are the topics an applicant for RPL is required to address, it should be possible to use these same topics in an e-portfolio to support membership for students in university programs. However, these topics do not appear to match those which have been used traditionally to define the ICT "Body of Knowledge" (known as the "BoK"). In particular there is no mention of professional skills in communication and ethics. So I should check the latest ACS BoK.

The ACS "ICT Profession Body of Knowledge" (ACS Professional Standards Board, July 2012), follows the '... approach to educational program design that focuses on the development of professionals rather than taking a strict bottom‐up “curriculum‐driven” approach'.  The BoK cites several international standards and frameworks for defining ICT courses and skills requirements, including the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3), the the Seoul Accord graduate attributes and the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). It should be noted that the ACS has been closely involved in the development of these international programs. The BoK states: "It might be expected that a graduate from a degree program would be ready to assume Level 4 responsibilities in their area of specialisation". 

The "CORE Block" of the Core Body of Knowledge has six sub‐components:

1. ICT Problem Solving (PS)
2. Professional Knowledge (PK)
3. Technology Building (TB)
4. Technology Resources (TR)
5. Services Management (SM)
6. Outcomes Management (OM).

The last four of these (TB, TR, SM and OM) are also in the ACS "Key Areas of Knowledge" for RPL (but with TR before TB). It is not clear why "ICT Problem Solving" (PS) and Professional Knowledge (PK) are not included in the RPL process. Perhaps these are covered implicitly by the requirement for the applicant to provide case studies of their work. These two areas are the ones which are lest able to be covered in a traditional course based program and were the e-portolfio is most likely to be of use.

ICT Problem Solving

ICT Problem Solving (PS) covers modeling, abstraction and design. There are many different forms of modelling used in ICT, engineering and related disciplines which could be applied. It is likely that a student undertaking an ICT program will have covered this topic adequately somewhere, but may need to identify where they did and provide evidence of specific work.

Professional Knowledge

Professional Knowledge (PK) covers:

1. Ethics
2. Professionalism
3. Teamwork concepts and issues
4. Interpersonal communication
5. Societal issues/Legal issues/Privacy
6. History and status of discipline 

These are the topic which cause most difficulty in a traditional course based university program, as they do not fit within traditional technical categories. Teamwork is likely to be covered in a software engineering course, but less so in computer science. Ethics and other issues may be covered by one or two lectures and an assignment at best. The difficulty for university course designers is where to fit these topics.

Mapping of International Curriculum to ACS CBOK  

The ACS BoK includes an appendix Mapping of International Curriculum to ACS CBOK. This has a table indicating what BoK sub-components correspond to parts of the standard curricular of ACM, IEEE and IEEE CS. Notably ICT Problem Solving (PS) does not appear in the mapping. Professional Knowledge maps to the other curricular.

ACM/IEEE-CS Report on Masters Degree Programs in Europe and the United States

Of relevance to any new Australian Computing Masters is the "Report of the Joint ACM and IEEE-CS Committee on Masters Degree Programs in Europe and the United States" by Lillian N. Cassel, Arnold Pears, Michael Casperson Art Pyster, Gordon Davies and Heikki Topi (2012). This report looks at the European standardization of Masters programs under the Bologna model and the different US approach

The report categorises the types of Masters as:

1. Research: Students are assumed to be going to continue on to a PHD. 
2. Continuation/Integrated: Students undertake an undergraduate degree, then a Masters.
3. Conversion: Students enter the masters having an undergraduate degree in another discipline.
4. Professional/Industrial: Students study and work at the same time.

The Continuation/Integrated and Conversion categories match most closely what is proposed for ANU.

The report discusses "Professional Practice", which matches closely the ACS "Professional Knowledge". The ACS "Code of Professional Conduct and Professional Practice" is cited in the report. Also the "problem solving"and communication skills. Unfortunately the requirements for Professional Knowledge and Problem Solving are not detailed. Also the report ends without any recommendations on how US style masters can be harmonized with Europe, which is the issue Australia is now facing.

Computer Science Curricula 2013

The Computer Science Curricula 2013 (ACM/IEEE CS, Strawman Draft, February 2012) includes a section on "Social and Professional Practice" (SP, also referred to as "Social and Professional Issues" in some parts of the report) which matches closely the ACS "Professional Knowledge". This is covered over nine pages in in far more detail than the previously discussed reports. The joint committee which produced the curricula is due to produce an updated draft for comment in February 2013 and the final report in "Summer 2013".

Social and Professional Practice (SP) is allocated 11 Core-Tier 1 hours and 5 Core-Tier 2 hours of the curriculum (no change from 2001  and 2008 versions of the curriculum). In this context "hours" refers to the time required to present the material in a traditional lecture format, not counting other student work. Tier 1 are introductory and Tier 2 advanced courses. The total hours are 305 (163 Tier 1 and 142 Tier 2). So Social and Professional Practice represents 6.7% of the Tier 1 total hours and 3.5% of Tier 2, making 5.2% of the total program hours. Assuming an undergraduate program consists of 4 courses per semester, 2 semesters per year for 3 years (24 in total), then SP makes up 125% of a course.

Comments on the report are being collected using computingportal.org . This allows anyone to sign up to enter a comment, with contributors able to "earn" higher level access. This is part of the "Ensemble" NSF NSDL Pathways project on computing education. However, little use seems to have been made of the system for this report. I have submitted this comment:

The CS2013 Ironman draft refers to the Knowledge Area "SP" mostly as "Social and Professional Practice" but in a few places as "Social and Professional Issues".
I suggest using "Practice" rather than "Issues" throughout. Change:
Chapter 1, Page 7, Line 89,
Chapter 5, Page 33, Line 136

Social and Professional Practice (SP)

Social and Professional Practice (SP) is made up of ten topics:

SP. Social and Professional Practice
	Core-Tier1 hours	Core-Tier2 hours	Includes Electives
SP/Social Context	1	2	N
SP/Analytical Tools	2		N
SP/Professional Ethics	2	2	N
SP/Intellectual Property	2		Y
SP/Privacy and Civil Liberties	2		Y
SP/Professional Communication	1		Y
SP/Sustainability	1	1	Y
SP/History			Y
SP/Economies of Computing			Y
SP/Security Policies, Laws and Computer Crimes			Y

Curiously, "Professional Communication", makes up only one hour of the curriculum. This only about 0.3% of the total course, which appears inadequate, gen the importance of communication to any professional and the problems computer scientists have had communicating.

SP/ Professional Communication
[1 Core-Tier1 hour]
Topics:

• Reading, understanding and summarizing technical material, including source code and documentation
• Writing effective technical documentation and materials
• Dynamics of oral, written, and electronic team and group communication
• Communicating professionally with stakeholders
• Utilizing collaboration tools

[Elective]

• Dealing with cross-cultural environments
• Tradeoffs of competing risks in software projects, such as technology, structure/process, quality, people,
• market and financial

Learning Outcomes:
[Core-Tier1]

1. Write clear, concise, and accurate technical documents following well-defined standards for format and for including appropriate tables, figures, and references. [Application]
2. Evaluate written technical documentation to detect problems of various kinds. [Evaluation]
3. Develop and deliver a good quality formal presentation. [Evaluation]
4. Plan interactions (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared documents) with others in which they are able to get their point across, and are also able to listen carefully and appreciate the points of others, even when they
5. disagree, and are able to convey to others that they have heard. [Application]
6. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of various forms of communication (e.g. virtual, face-to-face, shared
7. documents) [Knowledge]
8. Examine appropriate measures used to communicate with stakeholders involved in a project. [Application]
9. Compare and contrast various collaboration tools. [Evaluation]

[Elective]

1. Discuss ways to influence performance and results in cross-cultural teams. [Knowledge]
2. Examine the tradeoffs and common sources of risk in software projects regarding technology, structure/process, quality, people, market and financial. [Application]

E-portfolios for Higher Degrees

For the final unit of my Certificate in Higher Education, I am looking at how university higher degree programs can be flexible enough to support both professional accreditation and research. I covered these issues in general terms in a previous assignment: "On-line Professional Education For Australian Research-Intensive Universities in the Asian Century", but now I am considering how to implement this. One approach is to have the students fill in an e-portfolio with evidence of their skills, alongside courses and research.
The e-portfolio could be used to ensure the students cover all the required graduate attributes, as well as the requirements for any professional accreditation. This could also address the issue of credit for prior study, professional skills and quality of written academic communication.

My experience as a student who has had to fill out such portfolios, suggests that simply saying to the student "fill out an e-portfolio using some tool or other" is not sufficient. The student needs more detail as to what is required in the e-portfolio, what formats are acceptable and provided with help filling it out. Also the e-portfolio should not be seen as an additional optional task, outside the regular educational program, but as an integral part of it. In particular, the e-portfolio has to count towards final results, has to replace some of the other work in the course and there have to be staff who are trained in how to prepare an e-portfolio to help.

Some examples of e-portfolio use are the Certified Member Association for Learning Technology Program and the Professional Practice Subject of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Certified Professional Program. The ACS also has a separate Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Application process (1 July 2012).

It needs to be kept in mind that e-portfolios have to be assessed. This will required assessors who are qualified in the specifics of e-portfolios, as well as educational assessment and the discipline area. One tool which shows promise for this "Outcomes for Moodle 2". This is a new function being introduced to allow assessment beyond small specific course units. An example is the "British Higher National Diplomas". This could be useful in overcoming the tedium of paperwork otherwise involved with such assessment.