Comments on: Guidelines, Learning Objects, & Competency Definitions http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/ Perspectives on Life, the Universe, and Everything from a Physicist, Massage Instructor, Father, Dancer, Runner, ... Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:36:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Massage Schools and Massage Licensing Center » Blog Archive » Outcome Competencies http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-2025 Massage Schools and Massage Licensing Center » Blog Archive » Outcome Competencies Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:49:23 +0000 http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-2025 [...] Keith also explains it a little further : “These are what the trainee should be able to do/demonstrate after the training, not the process of the training. It gets away from the pervasive idea in the massage world that the results of training are defined by hours. Several weeks ago, I put together a few notes and an example of some very rough XML. “ [...] [...] Keith also explains it a little further : “These are what the trainee should be able to do/demonstrate after the training, not the process of the training. It gets away from the pervasive idea in the massage world that the results of training are defined by hours. Several weeks ago, I put together a few notes and an example of some very rough XML. “ [...]

]]> By: keg http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-362 keg Sun, 06 May 2007 02:10:59 +0000 http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-362 Whether you or I like it or not, the majority of states are now regulating massage, with some groups continually pushing for more hours of training for entry. I was at a meeting in March during which someone remarked that AZ had invoked a clause in their law that let the massage board raise the entry hours to 720. The person behind the podium clapped in approval, no questions asked about basis of need, no questions about what would get taught, no questions about effects on who would be able to take the training, just blind approval. There's this pervasive myth that hours equate with competence, but that's almost never true unless you have measurable training goals. So going the other direction, setting required outcomes that actually are needed for the work, figuring out how to get students to the goals they can't already do, and implementing that teaching and practice can both greatly reduce the amount of training specified and improve the performance. Think of it as along the lines a sports coach or band leader would use to get their team ready to play. Likewise, there is some merit to product regulation, particularly in a global economy. It is rather nice to have some knowledge that what's supposed to be in the bottle is what's actually there, and not replaced with something cheaper. Accurate labeling also helps those who might have an allergic response to certain additives. Some types of regulation improve choice rather than limit it. The recent pet food poisonings were a case in which regulation wasn't vigilant enough, as are the cases of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/06poison.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp">adulterated medicine</a> in today's NY Times. Whether you or I like it or not, the majority of states are now regulating massage, with some groups continually pushing for more hours of training for entry. I was at a meeting in March during which someone remarked that AZ had invoked a clause in their law that let the massage board raise the entry hours to 720. The person behind the podium clapped in approval, no questions asked about basis of need, no questions about what would get taught, no questions about effects on who would be able to take the training, just blind approval. There’s this pervasive myth that hours equate with competence, but that’s almost never true unless you have measurable training goals.

So going the other direction, setting required outcomes that actually are needed for the work, figuring out how to get students to the goals they can’t already do, and implementing that teaching and practice can both greatly reduce the amount of training specified and improve the performance. Think of it as along the lines a sports coach or band leader would use to get their team ready to play.

Likewise, there is some merit to product regulation, particularly in a global economy. It is rather nice to have some knowledge that what’s supposed to be in the bottle is what’s actually there, and not replaced with something cheaper. Accurate labeling also helps those who might have an allergic response to certain additives. Some types of regulation improve choice rather than limit it. The recent pet food poisonings were a case in which regulation wasn’t vigilant enough, as are the cases of adulterated medicine in today’s NY Times.

]]> By: Tyler West http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-361 Tyler West Sun, 06 May 2007 01:11:13 +0000 http://www.ramblemuse.com/rmtp/2007/03/30/guidelines-learning-objects-competence-descriptions/#comment-361 Won't industrywide standardization and regulation create the same culture within the massage field that causes people inside other professions to seek out a massage in the first place? You improve what you measure--but who benefits when you do? While companies can milk incremental improvements out of their employees, at what costs to basic humanity? Look at this holistically. Complex performance benchmarks imposed on personnel have a way of resulting in a measurable decrease in happiness and increase in turnover, two huge cost considerations in their own right. Whenever you explore the subject of competency and productivity you run the risk of reducing people to the level of machines. We are not. And this is why I'm saddened by the FDA making yet another power grab, this time in the massage profession. All this regulation and standardization f*cks over the end consumer too -- consumers whose own professions are under threat of homogenization. Won’t industrywide standardization and regulation create the same culture within the massage field that causes people inside other professions to seek out a massage in the first place?

You improve what you measure–but who benefits when you do? While companies can milk incremental improvements out of their employees, at what costs to basic humanity? Look at this holistically. Complex performance benchmarks imposed on personnel have a way of resulting in a measurable decrease in happiness and increase in turnover, two huge cost considerations in their own right.

Whenever you explore the subject of competency and productivity you run the risk of reducing people to the level of machines. We are not. And this is why I’m saddened by the FDA making yet another power grab, this time in the massage profession. All this regulation and standardization f*cks over the end consumer too — consumers whose own professions are under threat of homogenization.

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