Professional Development Tools and Technologies

Participating in Professional Development

Individuals in fields such as education, health care, and law, among others, are required to maintain professional licenses to practice. The renewal of professional licenses often requires documented professional development. For example, as of 2013, teachers in the U.S. state of Georgia must maintain their professional certificate required for teaching school in Georgia. The certificate is renewed every 5 years by completing a minimum of 6 semester-hours of approved college credit, or 10 approved professional learning units. Lawyers in West Virginia, similarly, must complete a minimum of 6 hours of continuing legal education for every 2-year period they are practicing law. Requirements like these examples are common in many professions around the world.

Even if a license to practice is not required, maintaining extra certifications can be attractive in some professions. Performance improvement professionals have the ability to obtain the designation of certified performance technologist through the International Society for Performance Improvement. This designation requires recertification every 3 years, and the recertification process includes documentation of continued professional education.

The mandate, or encouragement, for continued professional development is an important element in ensuring that professionals are up-to-date on knowledge, policies, changes, and innovations in their field of practice. This is congruent with Etienne Wenger’s work on communities of practice and how an individual progresses to become a full participant in a community. Professional development experiences can be classified into two high-level types: formal professional development experiences and informal professional development experiences.