Personalizing Adult Learning:

Educator Competencies

Personalized, Competency-based Learning for ALL

Adult learning theory suggests that adults need autonomy, mastery, and purpose in their learning for it to be meaningful, fulfilling, and applied to their work.

The Center supports personalized, competency-based learning for adults and for our young learners. We believe that we are best positioned to change pedagogy and environments when we use those same practices and foster those same elements with our adult learners so they can experience them firsthand.

In this section, you can explore sets of educator and leadership competencies that are necessary to make the shift to personalized, learner-centered, equitable educational practices. You can also navigate to the following opportunities:

  • Explore micro-credentials, which "represent a new approach to professional learning that recognizes the learners’ mastery of specific competencies when they provide evidence to meet rubric-based performance criteria associated with the application of the specific skill." (Midwest Comprehensive Center and Great Lakes Comprehensive Center at the American Institutes for Research, 2019)

Looking to Re-imagine Educator Evaluation?

Introduction to Exemplar Resources: Consider pairing the Iowa Teaching Standards with the CCSSO/JFF Educator Competencies and the Iowa Leadership Standards with the CCSSO/JFF Leadership Competencies.

EDUCATOR COMPETENCIES FOR PERSONALIZED, LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES FOR LEARNER-CENTERED, PERSONALIZED EDUCATION

Additional Frameworks to Consider

Introduction to Exemplar Resources

Educator Competencies for Student-centered Teaching (Christensen Institute)

By Heather Staker, Thomas Arnett, and Allison Powell

September 2020

iNACOL Blended Learning Teacher Competency Framework

Allison Powell, Ed.D., iNACOL

Beth Rabbitt, Ed.L.D., The Learning Accelerator

Kathryn Kennedy, Ph.D., Michigan Virtual University

Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity

Introduction to Exemplar Resources

According to the Learner Variability Navigator, "The goals for adult learning include being able to use literacy, numeracy, problem solving, communication, and digital skills effectively across contexts. Understanding the Learner Factors and strategies that impact adult literacies and how they connect to each other can help you build tools and lessons that support all learners."

Three theme emerged from their research:

  1. "Adults need a variety of 21st-century foundational skills to survive and thrive. (Digital Literacy and Oral Communication Skills are critical to pursuing opportunities in the workforce and everyday life.)"

  2. "Adults must see the benefit of learning tasks to fully engage. (Adults are independent learners who may have complex reasons for setting and persisting at learning goals.)"

  3. "Engaging in lifelong learning activities is interconnected with general well-being. (Having greater emotional, cognitive, and Physical Well-being can positively impact learning; in turn, engaging in learning can improve adults’ life satisfaction and outcomes such as income and social capital.)"

Click here to learn about the factors in adult learning and the strategies that can leverage those factors for success.

Moving-Toward-Mastery (1).pdf

Casey, K. (2018). Moving toward mastery: Growing, developing and sustaining educators for competency-based education. Vienna, VA: iNACOL. Content in this report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

iNACOL-State Strategies To Develop Teacher Capacity.pdf

Patrick, S., Worthen, M. & Frost, D. State Strategies to Develop Teacher Capacity for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning, iNACOL, 2018. Content in this report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.