Framework integrating multiple dimensions of competency and related pedagogies: A case for IT Industry

Abstract

People in IT services Industry need capabilities which include technical and non technical skills. This requires an aptitude for “holistic learning”. The many dimensions of `holistic learning' are imparting `knowledge and understanding', `technical application', `work integration', `human dimensions' such as - team interactions, motivation - `developing passion' for the subject and `learning to learn'. These skills are not sequential and independent, but interrelated, feeding back into each other. Competence to manage all these together to enable effective and efficient delivery of outcomes is the need of the IT Industry. The IT associate has to demonstrate these traits, early in his work as team interactions and personal traits like motivation, integrity and the like play a major role even in the early phases of his work cycle. This paper presents an approach to building a framework for `holistic learning' and identifying pedagogies that will actually build technical competencies and non-technical traits, thereby facilitating integrated competence building. Studies and results of such pilots are discussed. The paper also includes a case study on small groups, which indicated that these non technical and personal traits are developed well when doing related work. Pedagogies that encompass technical competence building promote non-technical traits when they are suitably defined.