Planning Your Continuing Professional Development, Engaging in Reflective Practice, and Evaluating Impact
Preparatory reading: Summary article, “The Reflective Practitioner.”
Welcome.
In this session, we will move through the CPD planning cycle from the end to the beginning, i.e., backward.
CPD activity becomes meaningful when it makes a difference to you and your learners. We aim for impact in our CPD, and thus we start with “Step 6: Reflecting on the impact of what you have achieved.”
We ask, at the end of a reasonable implementation period, what impact have your CPD activities had on your professional practice, on your colleagues, and on your learners?
This is our starting point.
What do we want to impact? In ourselves, our colleagues, our learners, our institutions, and our community?
Here are some concepts to start with to generate some ideas:
Positive self-concept, a growth mindset belief, a positive notion of self-efficacy and beliefs that you can make a difference, your capabilities to organize and execute actions to attain a designated type of performance, your sense of autonomy, these are indicators of a deepening reflective practice that is at the same time the flourishing ground for your commitment to CPD.
So, we want you to nurture your reflective practice so that it becomes a solid foundation where you can ground your development.
Evaluating impact is the domain of theorizing in the experiential learning cycle, connecting observation to experimentation. When you see and evaluate the impact, you complete the learning cycle and demonstrate the value of developmental activities.
The CPD planning cycle
Step 1: Reflect on your role, subject specialism, and priorities.
Identify key priorities to enable you to keep up to date with your subject area and to develop and improve your teaching and learning strategies.
Step 2: Analyze goals and needs using reflections, reviews, and appraisals.
Use evidence from various sources, such as learner feedback, evaluation, appraisals, teaching observations, and your own assessment.
Step 3: Use the analysis to create a year-long professional development plan.
Identify activities to develop as a professional. What type of activity and what topics are likely to be most effective for you? Include a brief rationale for each activity, a timeline for achievement, outcomes, and the success measures.
Step 4: Carry out your planned activities and log outcomes and reflections on progress.
Include dates of completion and time spent on reflection and progress. Demonstrate the difference the activities make to you, your colleagues, and your learners.
Step 5: Create a professional development record from the evidence in your log.
At the end of an annual cycle, record the most significant activities that have impacted your practice. Demonstrate the impact of what you have achieved through your CPD.
Step 6: reflect on the impact of what you have achieved.
What impact have CPD activities had on your professional practice, colleagues, and learners?
Evaluating impact
The CPD impact evaluation model, in Evaluating Step 6: Reflection, “So what?” asks for evidence of what has changed.
What difference have you made? Have you asked the right questions? And where to now? Evidence of change might come from feedback from learners, colleagues, data, and prior documentation.
In the previous CPD step, i.e., Step 5, you reviewed and analyzed what worked and what didn’t, based on evidence gathered on the way and your reflections on the planned CPD activities in Steps 3 and 4. Now, in evaluating Steps 3, 4, and 5, you look closely at what was effective, how, and why? What went according to plan, and what didn’t? And what were the causes of difficulties or changes you made in implementing? What was unaccounted for or not planned for? How will your planning for the future change?
What have you learned, what will you carry forward, and how has this affected your learners?
Suppose you would not have changed your practice or implemented the CPD activity. Is it possible that your learners would still have been affected in the same way? Might you be just making stuff up, just imagining that you impacted change through your implemented activity?
Take out the record of activities that have been most significant and have had the most impact on your practice. Demonstrate the impact of what you have achieved through your CPD. Demonstrate how activities and reflections have made a difference to you and your teacher role, and show evidence of this difference.
Evaluate and use evidence from learner feedback, appraisals, peer reviews, and teacher observations.
If it was a joint or group CPD project, seek peer feedback, join peer discussion groups, and share findings.
In your planning, you aimed for personalized, relevant, and meaningful activities. At the end of the cycle, how do you see the planned activities? Do you still consider them relevant and meaningful? Do you see objectives as congruent with the action and its outcome? What about your judgment and critical thinking? How capable are you in selecting impactful actions and anticipating outcomes?
What skills have you developed? How have you used those skills? Is anything unexpected; does anything surprise you? Maybe some unintended outcomes, whether positive or not so positive, besides the expected outcomes? What about your flexibility and adaptability, Is any positive growth there?
What knowledge gains did you make? How does this make a difference now in your teaching?
What can you do now that you couldn’t do at the beginning of the cycle? Does it matter; how much does it matter?
What impact on student progress and learning did your CPD activity have? What impact will your newly gained knowledge or skill have, looking into the future? What are the time scales for impact? What could accelerate or leverage impact?
How are you measuring CPD’s impact on student progress and learning? Is this evidence convincing to other professionals, colleagues, and peers? Is it significant?
What evaluation modes are most meaningful for you and for the profession?
How are you sharing your development, your journey, and insights? How are you contributing to continually updating and improving learning theory and practice? To subject knowledge?
What support did you receive from colleagues? How have you incorporated asking and receiving support? Was it effective? How can this be made an integral part of future CPD? What is your insight about effective sharing and support structures?
Do you see an emerging framework to structure your future CPD? What is the place for annual personal targets in such a model? How do they relate to the whole organization’s targets? How do you align self, learners, and organization in purpose, action, and benefit? What is shaping your emergent life and vocational philosophy?
Summarize your evaluations using a multi-level impact evaluation framework, and adjust as necessary:
Consider your CPD process and the whole cycle.
What is your reaction?
Narrate your learnings.
What organizational support did you plan for, what have you received, and how? What support structures are embedded in the culture, and how might these change for the better?
Tell a story about acquiring and using new knowledge and skills.
What impact did your efforts have on learner outcomes?
Any ideas about how to improve evaluating, measuring, and monitoring CPD?
The CPD planning cycle and the CPD impact evaluation model
Reflective Cycle Steps 1 & 2 Needs and Goals
Information produced: Who is involved? What is the expected completion date? What changes do you want to see? Who will be affected by these changes, e.g., learners, you, or colleagues?
CPD Planning Cycle Step 1: Reflect on your executive coach role, PWO specialism, and SBDP priorities.
Identify key priorities to enable you to keep up to date with your subject area (PWO) and to develop and improve your executive coaching strategies (mastery).
CPD Planning Cycle Step 2: Analyze goals and needs using reflections, reviews, and appraisals.
Use evidence from various sources, such as learner feedback, evaluation, appraisals, supervision, and your own assessment.
Impact Evaluation Model: What changes would you like to make to your practice? How will you know when these changes have made a difference?
Evaluating steps 1 and 2 takes evidence of change, i.e., the information produced in these CPD planning steps, such as who, by when, what, and who is affected (for whom), and asks what changes do I make in the next cycle regarding who to involve, how I determine target dates, how I determine desired or required changes, what stakeholder groups I prioritize or include that I previously excluded or neglected. What should I change in my role (identity and persona), specialism, and tools and strategies (mastery)? How should I prioritize? Should I focus on each simultaneously and broadly, or should I focus on one at a time and deeply? What are my insights about what and how I prioritize? Updating my executive coach role, PWO specialism, and SBDP priorities for the next cycle, how should I monitor and measure the difference these changes make, i.e., their impact?
Continuing evaluation, how should I adjust needs and goals analysis concerning who, by when, what, and for whom, and how should I monitor and measure the impact of adjusting and adapting? How should I rank the importance of evidence sources? What should I do more concerning learner feedback, evaluation, appraisals, supervision, and my own assessment? What new input source might I utilize?
Update role: mindfulness and self-compassion practice.
Update PWO: follow key figures and research centers of authority.
Update SBDP: try teaching strategies #1 & #2 and coaching strategies #1 and #2.
Prioritize input sources: #1 and #2.
Add new input sources: #1.
Discontinue: #1.
Reflective Cycle Steps 3 & 4 Plan and Do
Information produced: From the Professional Development Plan, we incorporate reflections on the planned CPD activities and the evidence gathered on the way as we implemented CPD activities.
CPD Planning Cycle Step 3: Use the analysis of Step 2 to create a professional development plan for the year.
Identify activities to develop as a professional (executive coach; document: Areas of developmental practice for the coach CPD). What activity type and what topics are likely o be most effective for you? Include a brief rationale for each activity, a timeline for achievement, outcomes, and success measures.
CPD Planning Cycle Step 4: Carry out your planned activities and log outcomes and reflections on progress.
Include completion dates and time spent on reflection and progress. Demonstrate the difference the activities are actually making to you, your colleagues, and your learners.
Impact Evaluation Model: What has gone to plan and what hasn’t? Any surprises, setbacks, or challenges?
Evaluating steps 3 and 4 takes evidence of change, i.e., the information produced in these CPD planning and implementation steps, such as reflections on planned activities and the evidence gathered while implementing, and asks [what changes do I make in the next cycle regarding] what do my reflection and the evidence I gathered tell me about what has gone to plan and what hasn’t; what do they tell me about surprises, setbacks, and challenges? What should I attend to in the next cycle when reflecting on activities concerning rationale, timeline, outcomes, and measures? How effective is my reflecting? Should I self-reflect, engage a coach, join a practice community, or form a peer group? What should I do more or better when reflecting? What about gathering evidence; how do I observe and monitor; Is any change needed there? Am I logging outcomes comprehensively and easy to comprehend? How am I demonstrating difference or impact? Am I focusing too much or too little on the impact on myself, my colleagues, or my learners? Anything I should adapt and change here? How am I handling surprises, setbacks, and challenges? Should I plan more and better alternative pathways (enhance hope)? Do I need to enhance self-efficacy? Would I benefit from increased optimism? What about resilience? When planning, should I be more values focused? Be more other-focused and influenceable? Am I satisfied with who I am becoming as my plans and implementations shape my future form? Am I taking on the right life project?
Update planning skills:
Update implementing skills:
Reflective Cycle Step 5 Review and Analyze
Information produced: From the Professional Development Plan, we incorporate insights from peer discussions, any revisions to the plan, and reflections and decisions on the next steps.
CPD Planning Cycle Step 5: Create a professional development record from the evidence in your log.
At the annual cycle end, record the most significant activities with the most impact on your practice. Demonstrate the impact of your CPD.
Impact Evaluation Model: What worked, what didn’t work? What would you have done differently if you were to do this again? Is it too late to change anything?
Evaluating step 5 takes evidence of change, i.e., the information produced in the CPD reviewing and analyzing evidence logs and creating a development record, such as insights from peer discussions, revised plans, and next steps decisions, and asks what my insight from discussions, revisions, and decisions tell me about what worked, what didn’t work; what would I do differently if I were to do this again; is it too late to change anything?
Update collaboration skills:
Update critical judgment and decision skills:
Reflective Cycle Step 6 Reflection. “So what?”
Information produced: From the Evidence of changes, we incorporate insights from feedback from learners, colleagues, data, and documentation.
CPD Planning Cycle Step 6: Reflect on the impact of what you have achieved.
What impact have CPD activities had on your professional practice, on your colleagues, and on your learners?
Impact Evaluation Model: What has changed? What differences have you made? Have you asked the right questions? Where to now?
Evaluating step 6 takes evidence of change, i.e., the information produced in the CPD impact reflection, such as insights from feedback from learners, colleagues, data, and documentation, and asks what my insight from feedback tells me about what has changed; what differences have I made; have I asked the right questions; where to now?
Update feedback skills: gathering, asking, receiving, and opening to being influenced.
Update reflection skills: