Contextual Competence Research Articles

Preparing Community College Leaders to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges

Aim/Purpose: This article reviews the leadership development literature and posits that a learning centered approach will best support the development of community college leaders. But, it is important to recognize that community colleges have differing needs due to size, location, and the communities they serve. Background: American community colleges have received a great deal of attention over the last decade as institutions poised to contribute to the education of the workforce and to increase the number of citizens who possess a certificate or degree. Concurrently, community colleges also received attention due to the warnings about a pending presidential leadership crisis in the sector. As more and more sitting leaders retire, the demands of the job increase, and fewer individuals seek out top-level leadership positions, it is important to address how to develop community college leaders. Contribution: The review of leadership development literature provides the backdrop for creating new programs to develop community college leaders. A multi-faceted approach is required in which succession planning occurs, graduate programs are revamped, and both individuals and organizations engage in the development of community college leaders. Findings: It is important to recognize that community colleges have differing needs due to size, location, and the communities they serve. Graduate doctoral programs targeting community college leadership and national training programs can help prepare leaders, but they need curricular and program alignment targeting development of authentic leadership and ways to bridge theory with practice. Establishing succession planning can build a robust leadership pipeline that supports networked leadership and nurtures contextual competencies. Impact on Society: Understanding better how to prepare leaders to face the challenges now facing community colleges requires questioning current practices and building different leadership development programs.

Competency-based measures for designing out construction waste: task and contextual attributes

Purpose– Competency-based measure is increasingly evident as an effective approach to tailoring training and development for organisational change and development. With design stage widely reckoned as being decisive for construction waste minimisation, the purpose of this paper is to identify designers’ competencies for designing out waste.Design/methodology/approach– Due to paucity of research into competency for construction waste mitigation, this study corroborates verbal protocol analyses (VPA) with phenomenological research.Findings– Combining findings from the two methodological approaches, competencies for designing out waste are grouped into five categories, three of which are largely task related and two being contextual competencies. The study suggests that design task proficiency, low waste design skills and construction-related knowledge are indispensable task competencies, while behavioural competence and inter-professional collaborative abilities are requisite contextual competencies for designing out waste. In concurrence with task-contextual theory of job performance, personality variables and cognitive abilities are found to influence one another. This suggests that both task and contextual competencies are not only important, they are less mutually exclusive with respect to designing out waste.Practical implications– This study implies that apart from commitment and dedication of designers to waste minimisation, design and firm practices are expected to be adapted to the industry’s standard.Originality/value– Basis for training needs of design professionals as well as redeployment criterion are further elaborated in the paper. By enhancing competencies identified in this study, construction waste would not only be significantly designed out, adequate cost saving could be made as a result of waste reduction.

Community College Leadership Transition Through the Framework of Appreciative Inquiry

ABSTRACTOur paper considers a critical juncture in community college leadership as many community college leaders approach retirement. These transitions are inescapable. How will institutional memory (Parker, 2011) be preserved with the passing of the leadership mantel to a new generation? These transitions also impact ways in which leaders influence student success, institutional mission, and the overall health of the institution (Boggs, 2011). We view these leadership transitions through the lens of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). We ask: How might AI be utilized to successfully navigate community college leadership transitions? Examining two cases where AI was applied within higher education environments, we discuss the potential for such a model to effectively address pending leadership changes within the community college environment. These cases illustrate ways in which AI has been applied in different institutions, yet each provides insight into the ways AI may ameliorate knowledge transfer through narrative and storytelling. We suggest that AI has the potential to address multiple facets of leadership transition and facilitate the development of contextual competency.

Enhancing the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clerkship

OBJECTIVE: The study evaluates the implementation of a Practice and Feedback Simulation experience (PF-SIMs) to assess clinical competencies during the clerkships and to provide faculty with data to evaluate student performance. METHODS: The PF-SIMs was created and implemented for all third-year clerkships. The experience involves five clinical scenarios enabling students to practice and obtain feedback on their cultural competence, procedural skills, use of evidence in patient care, team skills, and response to feedback. The obstetrics and gynecology case challenges included understanding “noncompliance,” pelvic examination, literature search strategy, approaching a decompensating patient, and giving bad news. The PF-SIM is scheduled before the mid-clerkship evaluation and each student creates a personal learning plan afterwards. RESULTS: Data from 368 students were analyzed for 2012 through 2014. All questions are formatted with yes or no answers. Significantly lower scores were observed for the Procedure and Team Skills stations when compared with Contextual Competence and the Challenging interactions ones. No significant differences were found in student's performance by year or by rotation. Students provided positive feedback on their experiences, eg, recognize their strengths and weaknesses, appreciated the feedback received, learned good rationale and enhanced their cultural competence skills. CONCLUSION: PF-SIMs data enable identification of student strengths and weaknesses and focuses faculty on necessary quality improvement of the clerkship and student's performance. It also helps to better prepare our students for the USMLE step 2 CS.

The Culture of Risk Prevention in Madrid Based on Final Work at Universities: A new Educational Dimension from the Wwp Model In Engineering

Accidents at work in Spain represent the first cause of job loss, which demonstrates the importance of Health and Security, not only at the human level, but also in its repercussion and productivity. Risk prevention at work is a pending subject at all organization levels, including the education area. It is therefore needed to develop efficient actions in matters of Health and Security, through the creation of measures directed at workers’ sectors and groups specially exposed to these risks, finding amongst these groups the sectors of construction and engineering.In this article the methodological fundaments of an educative cooperation model are shown. The educative cooperation strategy is framed within the model of Working With People (WWP) and in Project Based Learning, with the objective of teaching the students about the divers areas of engineering and architecture, considering risk prevention as the main intrinsic value when drafting a project. The evolution of the model is explained within innovative education in the EEES of engineering, as far as integrating the competences of Health and Security in the project management of the Project Management Association (IPMA). The results show four main advantages: (1) training from the technical, personal and contextual competences, (2) real problems related to the professional area of Health and Security, (3) cooperative learning through the integration of teaching-research, and (4) contribution to develop and consolidate policies within the Master Plans of Risk Prevention and work in Madrid.

Shopping to save the world? Reclaiming global citizenship within Irish universities

Patterns and causes of poverty and underdevelopment have shifted considerably over the last two decades. Growing global inequality within and between nations is now inextricably linked to both the exigencies and impacts of the global economy. In this article I argue that our universities, while developing students’ core skills and competencies to work within this global economy, fall short in providing them with the contextual competencies to critically engage with the multi-faceted challenges posed by it. In other words, our universities are failing to produce critically engaged global citizens. As universities opt to leave this contextual educational component to NGOs within the development sector – a sector with its own challenges and limitations – I go on to argue that global citizenship education as popularly promoted within this sector is also limited. In equating global citizenship and activism with consumerism, it depoliticises and individualises acts of engagement, thereby eroding the potential for collective, transformative action. I conclude by urging that, as teachers, mentors and public sociologists, we reclaim global citizenship as a collective project engaged in the political struggle for meaning and ‘truth’ within our classrooms and institutions.

Validity of the Contextual Competence Scale for Engineering Students

AbstractBackgroundEngineering educators and practitioners increasingly value contextual competence. A psychometrically sound, practical, and useful scale for assessing undergraduate engineering students' contextual competence is needed.Purpose/HypothesisThis article provides comprehensive evidence of the content, structural, discriminant, and criterion‐related validity of the contextual competence scale.Design/MethodThis study used student, alumni, and faculty survey data from a nationally representative sample of 120 U.S. engineering programs from 31 four‐year institutions. Validity evidence was obtained by expert review of questions, a pilot test, factor analyses, and several analyses utilizingt‐tests, correlations, and regression.ResultsExperts constructed the questions used in the scale (content validity). Those questions combined to measure a single concept (structural validity), the scale reliably measures (Cronbach's alpha = .91) that concept, and it focuses on contextual competence instead of other student outcomes (discriminant validity). The contextual competence scale varies according to students' characteristics and curricular experiences as well as similarities and differences in student and alumni levels of contextual competence in the same programs and institutions (criterion‐related validity). Finally, the scale may be a more accurate measure of contextual competence than faculty members' perceptions of students' ability.ConclusionsThe contextual competence scale allows engineering programs to meet ABET and other self‐study requirements or do large‐scale research with relative ease and little expense. The process described in this article can be used by other researchers in engineering education for their scale development efforts.

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Interrelated factors that influence the success of a project are discussed as exemplified by business case-studies. Among other factors special attention is given to the specific works� quality control; contextual competences and trust-based relationships between managers and employees; team�s line-up against specifics of the organization undertaking changes. Importance of timely adapting to changes in the external environment is emphasized, and also of considering non-obvious purposes of resistance to changes, particularly such, as low-level incorporativity of social groups within organizations.

A Holistic Perspective of Leadership Competencies

AbstractThis chapter argues for the use of clusters in thinking about the AACC competencies. Four clusters are presented: inclusivity, framing meaning, attention to the bottom line, and systems thinking. Overarching these clusters is the need for contextual competency in which leaders align their approaches based on their college's context.

Reasoning About Natural Selection: Diagnosing Contextual Competency Using the ACORNS Instrument

Reasoning About Natural Selection: Diagnosing Contextual Competency Using the ACORNS Instrument

Reasoning About Natural Selection: Diagnosing Contextual Competency Using the ACORNS Instrument

Studies of students' thinking about natural selection have revealed that the scenarios in which students reason evoke different types, magnitudes, and arrangements of knowledge elements and misconceptions. Diagnostic tests are needed that probe students' thinking across a representative array of evolutionary contexts. The ACORNS is a diagnostic test that treats different evolutionary contexts as unique scenarios worthy of focused assessment and targeted instruction. Our investigations revealed that ACORNS scores produce valid and reliable inferences about students' thinking about natural selection. We urge biology teachers at all educational levels to begin assessing and attending to their students' reasoning across a broader array of evolutionary contexts, as competency in one context is often not indicative of competency in another.

Professional Certification for School Principals: Approach of a Competence Based Profile for Education Quality Improvement

Abstract Educational decentralization has transformed the roles and responsibilities of all education actors. Particularly, the role of principals and school leadership has become lately a focus of attention for their direct and indirect effects on educational outcomes. From the perspective of competence development, professional certification has become an authentication tool for the actual professional capacity to respond to a job or a set of tasks verifying the level of capacity in terms of knowledge and skills of a worker. This trend is no stranger to education, with a strong emphasis on the effects of these elements in the teaching profession and into an educational project affecting the results of the quality of education received by children and youth. Considering this scenario, and based on international experience and literature reviews, authors propose a competence-based model that aim to define the professional profile that would allow improving school performance and educational outcomes. The proposed model, considers a holistic approach with 16 technical, behavioral and contextual competences that are defined in this document, defining the expected actions that should be carried out in order to develop these abilities, and therefore influence school management and performance.

Putting the (R) ural in preceptorship.

Rural nursing is recognized as a unique health care domain. Within that context, the preceptorship experience is purported to be an important approach to preparing safe and competent rural practitioners. Preceptorship is the one-to-one pairing of a nursing student with a professional nurse who assumes the mandate of teacher and role model in a designated clinical/contextual setting, in this case the rural setting. A research gap exists in the literature in which rural preceptorship is specifically explored. The purpose of this paper is to review preceptorship in relation to preparing nursing students specifically for the rural setting. Understanding how preceptorship as an educational model can prepare nursing students to transition to rural practice is an important endeavor. An authentic rural preceptorship may serve to influence the recruitment and retention needs for registered nurses in rural areas. A greater understanding of rural preceptorship serves to illustrate the appropriate support, socialization and contextual competence required to prepare nursing students for rural nursing practice. This paper's review may serve to highlight the research that currently exists related to rural preceptorship and where additional research can contribute to further understanding and development for authentic rural nursing preparation.

The essence of the competence concept: Adopting an organization's sustained competitive advantage viewpoint

AbstractPrevious scholars considered competence a ‘fuzzy concept’ and addressed confusions such as ‘competency vs. competence’ and ‘competence vs. core competence’. However, the issue ‘What is the essence of employee competence?’ remains unclear. By inference, the essence of competence is addressed in adoption of an organization's sustained competitive advantage viewpoint different from the traditional viewpoint of enhancing individual employability. This paper contends that employee competence is strategically driven by organizational core competence. Psychologically, employee competence and organizational core competence are similar and linked in terms of person–organization fit and person–job fit. A contextual competence framework is established enlightening the essence of employee competence and redefines competence as a ‘temporary asset’ rooted in the interactively organizational context. Contextual variables including shared values, mutual trust and mutual investment bolster the alignment between employee competence and organizational core competence and develop employee competence as firm-specific, thus becoming a source for sustained organizational competitive advantage.

The essence of the competence concept: Adopting an organization's sustained competitive advantage viewpoint

AbstractPrevious scholars considered competence a ‘fuzzy concept’ and addressed confusions such as ‘competency vs. competence’ and ‘competence vs. core competence’. However, the issue ‘What is the essence of employee competence?’ remains unclear. By inference, the essence of competence is addressed in adoption of an organization's sustained competitive advantage viewpoint different from the traditional viewpoint of enhancing individual employability. This paper contends that employee competence is strategically driven by organizational core competence. Psychologically, employee competence and organizational core competence are similar and linked in terms of person–organization fit and person–job fit. A contextual competence framework is established enlightening the essence of employee competence and redefines competence as a ‘temporary asset’ rooted in the interactively organizational context. Contextual variables including shared values, mutual trust and mutual investment bolster the alignment between employee competence and organizational core competence and develop employee competence as firm-specific, thus becoming a source for sustained organizational competitive advantage.

Aprendizaje de competencias contextuales: efectos de la presencia/ausencia del objetivo instruccional y del objeto referente

This experimental study analyses didactic interactions which might promote learning of basic contextual competencies, operationally defined as identification tasks, through reading a didactic text. Thirty two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to four groups to explore the effects of an instruction conveying what was expected from the participant to learn (instructional objective) and of an illustration of the object referred by the text (referent object), when both factors were present (Group 1), when only one of them was present (Group 2 and 3), and when both factors were absent (Group 4). The effects were tested on two different tasks: object identification and textual identification. The presence or absence of the instructional objective failed to produce significant performance differences among groups in none of the tasks tested, independently of the referent object’s presence or absence. However, significant performance differences were found in object identification as an effect of the presence and absence of the referent object, no matter if the instructional objective was present or absent, but this effect was not observed under the same conditions in the textual identification task. Results strongly suggest that the presence of the referent object during an instructional episode is necessary for contextualization of names and referents. The presence of the instructional objective did not produce important effects on learning, but the presence of the referent object did facilitate learning of this kind of competencies.

Project–based learning in engineering higher education: two decades of teaching competences in real environments

This paper presents an educational methodology of cooperative project-based learning. This methodology emerges in the final years of the undergraduate programme of the Technical University of Madrid. The paper focuses on the evolution of this experience up to its insertion in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), incorporating the project management competences of the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and broadening its scope to an entire educational strategy for undergraduate and graduate programmes. The results show how the methodology provides three main advantages: (1) it facilitates training in technical, personal, and contextual competences; (2) real problems in the professional sphere are dealt with; and (3) collaborative learning is facilitated through the integration of teaching and research.

The trickiness of IT enhanced competence management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a critical understanding of IT enhanced competence management and its promise to bridge operational and strategic functions with the aim of revealing potential hidden challenges.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were gathered through interviews and observations during a longitudinal field study over a two year period in a large Norwegian IT consulting firm that has adopted a competence IT tool throughout the entire organisation. The investigation was conducted from a practice‐based approach to studying competence management.FindingsIt was found that IT enhanced competence management that aims to bridge the individual and organisational purposes, is mediated by a universal‐stock versus contextualist approach to competence development. This results in four possible alternatives to IT enhanced competence management. In this study the contextual competence assessment for individual purposes has been objectified for organisational purposes, causing confusion about the value of IT enhanced competence management.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has been conducted in only one large IT firm in Norway. Further research is needed to support the finding that it is beneficial to remain in either the contextual or the universal‐stock orientation to competence development when using the same assessments for individual‐operational and organisational‐strategic purposes.Practical implicationsThe trickiness of IT enhanced competence management lies in the four hidden belief structures about competence that influence both the design and use of IT enhanced competence tools. Insight gained from this paper may help managers to reflect on their assumptions about competence and may contribute to successful IT enhanced competence management.Originality/valueThe research clarifies possible pitfalls when aiming to satisfy multiple purposes in the design and use of a competence IT tool.

New Professionalism, Trust and Competence

Many professional occupations have acquired a new environment and new conditions for their legitimacy. Decentralization, deregulation, privatization and new market forms have turned many professional work organizations, including schools, into clearer and more delimited organizations. Thus, there is a demand for a new professionalism in the discourse on changes and leadership of work organizations. Professionalism is strongly related to confidence in abstract systems and institutions as well as trust in individual professional practitioners. A minor semantic questionnaire study of the concept of professionalism was conducted. Results showed a very strong emphasis upon knowledge, competence and skill, and on the coupling with professions and professional practice. Professionalism was regarded by respondents as contextual competence rather than as a general capability. Practical knowledge, experience and knowledge in use were stressed over theoretical knowledge and formal education. Moreover, the concept had a strong positive connotation. Professionalism was always interpreted in the study as a phenomenon on the individual level and never on the organizational level. A cognitive aspect was completely dominant, a clear minority of respondents indicated an affective aspect, another clear minority expressed an ethical and moral aspect. Authority, licence and legitimation were barely mentioned. The concept of professionalism was not directly linked to confidence or trust, but only indirectly through concepts such as ethics and responsibility. Conversely, however, it was the cognitive attitudes towards professionalism that formed the decisive basis for trust in professionals.

Contextual Competence: Multiple Manifestations Among Urban Adolescents

The authors develop and validate multidimensional and contextual profiles of competence among low-income, urban, middle adolescents (N = 560). The assessment of contextual competence was based on youth self-reports of involvement, performance, and relationship quality in the peer, school, athletic, employment, religious, and cultural contexts. A principal components analysis of these engagement indices revealed the six expected components with the addition of a component labeled "self-in-context." To identify holistic, multidimensional profiles of contextual competence, scores along the seven domains were cluster analyzed. Nine clusters emerged, each representing a distinct constellation of youth experience. Profiles were associated with demographic variables and youth adjustment. Profiles reflecting high engagement in two or more contexts predicted higher self-esteem and lower depression. In contrast, profiles marked by high engagement in the contexts of athletics or employment predicted more serious delinquency. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for future research and intervention.