New Learner Information

No! We keep adding resources to the web site but these are a pool of options, not a set of requirements. We recognize that you may be interested in a lot of the topics and resources but a key part of being a self-regulated learner is making decisions about how much is enough. The SME for your EPA should be able to help, as might your mentor.

There are a few characteristics of a successful EPA that we can share with you. One is to organize the submission to help the assessors find the competency evidence readily. This often takes the form of headings in the documentation but may also be individual sections or appendices if the EPA is a big product, like a grant, and the competencies need separate explanation.

Another critical characteristic is reflection. Many of the competencies (e.g., personal leadership) are not clearly evident in what happened in a project, but are personal skills and problem solving that you need to explain to the assessors. As much as the EPA tells the assessors WHAT you did it, it is also important to explain to the assessors WHY you did it. How did you see the problem? What alternatives did you consider? Why did you go the way you did? What you do differently now? These kinds of questions are key components of a competent educator who can thoughtfully and creatively address new educational challenges.

Please include citations to the literature where appropriate. EPAs are scholarly products and need to reflect existing knowledge and theory.

The assessment committee also wants to reiterate the value of conciseness. It’s hard to put concrete guidelines on conciseness but I generally advise my learners that it is hard to say something meaningful in less than two pages (for a given competency) but more than four pages may be saying too much. So, 2-4 pages per competency plus whatever you need as the centerpiece of the EPA (grant application scholarly paper, manuscript review) should be about right. Perhaps the actual product of the EPA (e.g., a review of a manuscript) can be provided as an appendix. Of course, every learner and EPA is different, so treat these as guidelines, not rules.

Alternative EPA presentations. Several of our learners have been creative in how they organize and present the evidence for an EPA. One modality that has worked well is a voice-over PowerPoint in which the learner narrates the presentation of competence evidence provided by a series of slides. This has been advantageous for those for whom writing is challenging (all of us, in truth) and can be linked to more traditional written segments of the EPA (e.g., a curriculum syllabus accompanied by narrated slides for the reflection.

Less common is an oral exam format in which you present the evidence to a panel of assessors who then ask questions about the EPA and competency evidence. This usually still has some written background information but moves more of the evidence to a real-time discussion.

If you are interested in exploring any alternative presentation format, give Larry a call to see about fit and next steps.