The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) has contracted with the Center on Education and Training for Employment to redesign their program for the licensure of nondegreed career and technical education (CTE) teachers. The current WVDE program has been in place for a number of years, and it was determined that it was time to conduct a review of the program to ensure that it reflects recent advances in educational research and provides the most relevant content, efficient delivery, economical cost, and advantageous transferability for new career and technical education teachers. A number of different activities will be conducted including, but not limited to,

• reviewing literature and practice that reflect the latest research and practices in teacher preparation;
• surveying completers to evaluate the relevance of the course work, convenience of the method(s) of delivery, cost, and the transferability of the degree (if applicable);
• conducting focus groups with current and former enrollees to allow them to rank order the list of possible standards and skill sets;
• meeting with staff of the WVDE Office of Professional Preparation;
• writing a design for the coursework required for the renewal;
• identifying courses that cover the WVDE Professional Education Standards;
• recommending and identifying courses that could be delivered via the web or a combination of web and meetings;
• identifying other types of distance education learning methods for those courses not conducive to web-based instruction;
• preparing a guide for developing syllabi and specifying the teaching methods used to model teaching methods career and technical teachers are expected to use in their classrooms;
• reviewing the current agreement between the institutions currently delivering the program for licensing nondegreed career and technical education teachers and recommending changes in their financial arrangements if needed; and
• identifying and exploring other issues that may affect the success and feasibility of the new design.

Additional information regarding the project may be obtained by contacting either N. L. McCaslin (mccaslin.2@osu.edu) or Chris Zirkle (zirkle.6@osu.edu) who are serving as co-directors of the project at CETE or Norma Miller (nkmiller@access.k12.wv.us) at the West Virginia Department of Education.

The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation has received a grant from the National Science Foundation designed to increase the number of females enrolling in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and to help them transition from high school to college. NAPE’s STEM Equity Pipeline program will work initially with state teams in California, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma and expand to eight additional states over 5 years. It will train state teams consisting of educational professionals and community- and state-based organizations, to use gender-inclusive policies and practices in teaching, curriculum, and student support programs.

The Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) will manage the Virtual Learning Community (VLC) for the project. The VLC is designed for National Advisory Board members, project consultants, state teams, and local educators to form common-interest-based learning communities. The VLC will also enable project personnel to network electronically via a listserv; post relevant articles, PowerPoint presentations, and documents; view archived webcasts and webinars; participate in online courses and tutorials; submit performance data for analysis; complete project evaluations; and submit suggestions for project improvement. The VLC will also be a public portal describing the project and posting relevant resources for the STEM equity community.

For further information about the VLC contact N. L. McCaslin, Virtual Learning Community Director (mccaslin.2@osu.edu) or Greg Nagy, Virtual Learning Community Technician (nagy.8@osu.edu). For information about NAPE’s STEM Equity Pipeline Project, contact Mimi Lufkin, Project Director (mimilufkin@napequity.org).

On October 23, 2007 a presentation was made by Belinda Gimbert, Maria Hruby Moore, Tina Kassebaum, and Raeal Moore at the OCTEO Fall Meeting in Dublin, OH. Their session was on the Evaluation of a Test Preparation Process for Praxis II: Principles of Learning and Teaching Comparing Test Performance of Ohio Teachers. The purpose of this presentation is to report a study (2006-2007) that explored whether, or not, participants in the Ohio Transition to Teaching (Ohio TtT) project who received preparation support (defined as a blended approach) performed as well as two other groups on the state teacher licensing test, Praxis II: Principles of Learning and Teaching test. Performance was measured by Educational Testing Services standardized national scores on the Praxis II. The Ohio Transition to Teaching participants’ exam scores were compared to the two following groups: Ohio traditional route teachers, and the Ohio Alternative Educator Licensed Teachers who did not participate in the Ohio Transition to Teaching Program.

This study revealed that nontraditionally prepared teachers provided with support through an Ohio TtT Praxis II: PLT Test Preparation Program performed better than other Ohio nontraditionally and as well as traditionally trained teachers on the ETS Praxis II: Principles of Learning and Teaching Test. One possible explanation for the better performance of the Ohio TtT teachers on the pedagogy examination could be the extensive face-to-face and online preparation, as well as support from the online learning community that are afforded to participants in the Ohio TtT program.

Maria Hruby Moore and Belinda Gimbert presented at the annual meeting of the Directors of the Transition to Teaching Programs in Washington, DC, October 29-31, 2007. Their session was titled, Preparing our TTT participants for success on a state-mandated teacher licensing pedagogy test: A process of face-to-face and online preparation.

Belinda Gimbert was a member of a three-person panel that presented at the U.S. Department of Education’s Policy briefing on November 1, 2007 in Washington, DC. Three key questions guided Dr. Gimbert’s presentation: Why is teacher retention important? What are examples of key support systems? What is the value added of teacher support systems?

LearningWork Connection’s Focused Futures: Youth Development System Builder zeroes in on what works for youth by connecting youth development principles, evidence-based practices, and performance measures in toolkits that provide practical application of strategies for youth-serving professionals.

Each Focused Futures module features user-friendly information, real-world examples, and customizable worksheets, templates, and forms to help youth workforce professionals design and implement successful youth programs. Six new modules are now available.

• Elements of a WIA Youth Program
• Pre-Enrollment Activities, Framework Activities, and Case Management
• Follow-Up Services
• Serving Out-of-School Youth
• Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement
• The WIA Youth System

All Focused Futures modules are available as full-text PDF files on LearningWork Connection’s website (http://www.learningworkconnection.org/focusedfutures.asp). Also available in full-text PDF files are previously published Focused Futures modules.

• Program Design for Performance
• Procurement for Performance 1: Requests for Proposals
• Procurement for Performance 2: Contracting
• Serving Youth in One-Stops
• Youth Councils

Ohio WIA youth system staff can obtain paper copies of the new Focused Futures modules by contacting Mike Wonacott at wonacott.2@osu.edu or 614/688-3356.

And speaking of the LearningWork Connection website…be sure to visit the newly redesigned website at www.learningworkconnection.org. With the redesign, we packaged information so it is more accessible for our customers.

While you’re at the website, be sure to browse other LearningWork Connection publications (http://www.learningworkconnection.org/publications.asp) like the High Res Newsletter, Youthwork Information Briefs, and What Works.

Ronald Jacobs, professor of Workforce Development and Education and director of the UNEVOC-U.S. center at CETE, has facilitated the signing of three memorandum of understandings (MOUs) between the College of Education and Human Ecology and three international partners:

• Korean Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET)
• China Education Association for International Exchange
• Jilin Teachers’ Institute of Engineering and Technology

Each of the agreements emphasizes the intent to collaborate on somewhat different activities, including research projects on workforce development, professional development study trips and workshops, and curriculum development projects. The College looks forward to using these MOUs as the basis for developing productive and mutually beneficial partnerships for the future. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Ron Jacobs at jacobs.3@osu.edu.

One way to define a conceptual DACUM is to simply say you are conducting a DACUM workshop with a facilitator and recorder but without any actual expert workers who perform the job. Oh, you still need a panel of "experts," but they will be conceptualizing, predicting, or forecasting the future situation based on what is currently known by persons who have the greatest knowledge and perhaps some experience with the job or occupational area of concern. It is a process for investigating, contemplating, and planning for the future by brainstorming and gaining group consensus about what should be or needs to be done using the best expertise available. The resulting analysis must be considered tentative and subject to revision as experience dictates.

Why Conduct a Conceptual DACUM?

There are situations when an analysis of a proposed new job or position is needed but for which there are no expert workers. There are also situations where jobs need to be restructured, given a futuristic look, or otherwise re-envisioned due to new legal requirements, company reorganization or other societal changes or concerns. Companies often create new work situations because of changing technology or new customer requirements. Many state departments of education, ministries of education, secondary schools, community colleges, universities, and companies want to conceptualize or investigate the possibility of new positions or offering new training programs or course curricula. In the last 25 years, the CETE/OSU DACUM staff has successfully conducted over 50 "conceptual" DACUMs to meet this need. And, the number of requests to facilitate the conceptualization of new positions has been definitely on the increase the last few years.

How Is a Conceptual DACUM Different?

There are two major differences between a regular DACUM and a conceptual DACUM: the make-up of the panel and the questions asked by the facilitator. Depending on the situation, the panel may be comprised of some of all of the following: job innovators, managers and supervisors, engineers, consultants and specialists, representatives of concerned groups, and customers.

The facilitator will need to (most of the time) switch from asking “What do you do?” to “What should be done?” or “What needs to be done?” If you have some early innovators on the panel (assuming such persons are available), you still may need to ask them “What do you do?”

Assembling the correct panel for a conceptual DACUM can be especially challenging. You must determine who is likely to possess the best available information. It could mean a small panel of only two or three persons or a dozen or more. Be careful to recruit the thinkers, early innovators, and others willing and able to think “outside the box.”

You need to allow more time for brainstorming and discussion, as thoughts need to be formulated, duties and tasks proposed, and a consensus reached. You still need to orient the panel and abide by the criteria for good duty and task statements. You should also identify the three lists of enablers, but probably will not need to address future trends as the whole analysis should be addressing the future. Our experience has shown that most analyses can still be done in 2 days time.

How Are the Results Different?

The resulting DACUM research chart will look almost exactly the same as a regular chart. It may well have between 6-12 duties and 75-125 tasks. The panel members may have come from very different positions and could look considerably different than the usual panel. You should still have the three lists of enablers, but probably won’t need a list of future trends. You may want to footnote somewhere that it is the result of a conceptual DACUM and subject to change as the real situation indicates. Because there are no actual job experts to review the panel’s work, a task verification is usually not done.

What Are Some Examples of DACUM Conceptual Analyses?

University of Central Florida

One of the first conceptual DACUMs conducted by CETE staff in the 1980s was for the University of Central Florida. Staff there had received federal funding to identify what educators should do to implement sex-fair vocational programs in response to the new federal legislation. There were no real experts because the special emphasis on sex equity was new. The project director asked if the DACUM process could help identify what needed to be done to have sex-fair programs, and after some thought, we told him yes if he could assemble 8-12 of the most knowledgeable people in this area for two or three days. We also told him that we would need to label the result a “conceptual” DACUM because it certainly would not be the usual DACUM process.

During the workshop, we asked the conceptual experts to tell us exactly what they felt educators should be doing to implement sex-fair programs. Once all of the duties and tasks had been identified, the facilitator asked the experts to identify whether an administrator, a counselor, a teacher, or some combination of the three should be responsible for performing each task. The results of the workshop were excellent. The project director was very pleased and each member of the panel wanted a copy.

Arkansas Power & Light Company

Another conceptual DACUM occurred in the mid-1980s when the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) told the Arkansas Power and Light Company they must identify the special duties and tasks that their employees must undertake in the event of any nuclear problems or disaster. Since the company had not had any serious problems, they had no expert workers in this area. Again, a conceptualization approach was in order.

The company identified two or three of their most knowledgeable nuclear engineers and with the facilitator's guidance and probing, they were able to specify several duties and tasks. Again, the sponsor was very pleased that the special tasks could be identified so quickly and so comprehensively.

AT&T

A third conceptual DACUM was conducted in 1993 when AT&T needed to establish as quickly as possible a training program for technicians who were to operate a newly developed CDRP (Call Detail Recording Platform). It was designed to record automatically all of the necessary details (length, time of day, etc.) needed so AT&T could accurately bill its customers. This machine was so different from the old ones that again, there were no expert workers.

We assembled, in spite of considerable initial resistance, a team of about 10 persons who were still working on the design and testing of the machine. The two training program developers were extremely pleased and the development team became very supportive once they had a chance through their detailed discussions, to really learn what each other was doing. The training program developers felt it had saved them at least 2 months of time for which they were very grateful.

Philippines TESDA

A fourth example of using the DACUM process to conceptualize a new position occurred as the DACUM Program Director worked for the Philippine Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (TESDA) in the summer of 1997. TESDA managers wanted to establish cooperative education-type programs between their training centers and cooperating businesses. The problem seemed to be one of confusion on the part of both the educators and the business leaders as to who should be doing what. TESDA wanted to train people for their respective roles, but first they had to be clearly defined. Again, no expert workers were available. A conceptual DACUM panel was assembled with representatives from training and education, business and industry, and TESDA. The TESDA manager was very pleased and planned to use the outcomes in designing their cooperative training programs.

When carefully planned and well conducted, a conceptual DACUM can provide excellent results. It is certainly not appropriate in every situation, but it can be powerful and beneficial in appropriate circumstances.

More recently, a few of the many conceptual DACUMs that have been conducted include:

For more information about conceptual DACUM workshops, contact:
Dr. Robert E. Norton
Center on Education and Training for Employment
The Ohio State University
1900 Kenny Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1016
phone: 614/292-8481; fax: 614/292-1260; e-mail: norton.1@osu.edu

The Center on Education and Training for Employment at The Ohio State University is recruiting applicants for a cohort of 35 participants in their 2008-2009 Workforce Education Leaders Program that will begin in July. This is a year-long program that aims to develop a cadre of secondary and postsecondary leaders who have the knowledge and skills necessary to lead change, improve the quality of workforce education programs, and prepare individuals to be competitive in the global market. The program includes five face-to-face meetings, distance sessions, mentorships, individual leadership development plans, and projects. This will be the fourth year that this program has been offered. Participants in the program will:

• develop their leadership capabilities
• develop an understanding of policy development processes
• develop an understanding of the culture and context in which programs operate
• establish meaningful personal and organizational vision and mission statements
• lead educational change by helping their organizations to overcome resistance to change, accept new changes, and ground these changes in a new organizational culture
• identify and recognize outstanding programs and effective practices
• prepare programs of study leading to college and/or careers

Applications must be submitted by April 30, 2008. Additional information about the Workforce Education Leaders Program is available on the website (www.workforceleaders.org) or by contacting N. L. McCaslin, Ph.D., Center on Education and Training for Employment, The Ohio State University, 1900 Kenny Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1016, 614/247-7964, fax: 614/292-1260, e-mail: mccaslin.2@osu.edu; or Rebecca Parker, Center on Education and Training for Employment, The Ohio State University, 1900 Kenny Rd., Columbus, OH 43210-1016, 614/688-5941, fax: 614/292-1260, or e-mail: parker.304@osu.edu.

DACUM research charts produced by CETE/OSU result from a trained facilitator working for 2 days with a panel of men and women with reputations for being the top performers of their jobs. The chart consists of a graphic profile of duties (general areas of competence) and the many tasks (specific meaningful units of work) that must be performed to be successful. The chart also identifies the general knowledge and skills required by successful workers; the tools, equipment, supplies, and materials used; the important worker behaviors required for success; and the future trends and concerns likely to affect the job over the next 3-5 years.

The names of the experts, the facilitator, sponsor, and the workshop dates are also provided. This service is offered to assist curriculum developers and others who wish to develop either a competency-based education or performance-based training program, but cannot immediately conduct a local DACUM workshop of their own. High-quality DACUM charts imported from elsewhere can provide valuable start-up information and/or serve as a basis for conducting a modified DACUM workshop. However, it is highly recommended that any chart purchased from CETE or elsewhere be locally verified (validated) via a mailed or electronic task verification process or advisory committee review. The Center wishes to make it emphatically clear that while offering its collection of high-quality DACUM charts at a minimal fee ($30 per chart), it in no way wishes to discourage school, community colleges, technical institutes, government agencies, and businesses and industries from conducting their own up-to-date, locally relevant job or occupational analyses. The quality of a current, locally conducted analysis developed by a trained facilitator and a qualified panel of 5-12 expert workers cannot be matched by a chart developed elsewhere.

For information about DACUM occupational analysis workshops, DACUM Facilitator Training Institutes, Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development (SCID) workshops and/or to order DACUM Research Charts, call or e-mail Bob Norton at 614/292-8481 or 800/848-4815 ext. 2-8481, norton.1@osu.edu or Debbie Weaver, ext. 2-9934, weaver.22@osu.edu.

Production Coach sponsored by Emerson Network Power and Liebert
Class II Collection System Operator sponsored by OhioEPA
Class II Wastewater Treatment Operator sponsored by OhioEPA
Class IV Wastewater Treatment Operator sponsored by OhioEPA
Class IV Water Supply Operator sponsored by OhioEPA
Database Specialist sponsored by Southeast Arkansas College
Industrial Computer Systems sponsored by Lake Land College
Instructor sponsored by Southeast Arkansas College
Network Technician sponsored by Southeast Arkansas College
Sewer Maintenance Worker sponsored by Columbus Department of Public Utilities
System Specialist sponsored by Columbus State Community College
Adjunct Instructor sponsored by TCC Corporate Services
Administrator sponsored by The Ohio State University Medical Center
Building Services Technician sponsored by TCC Corporate Services
Cell Phone Technician sponsored by TCC Corporate Services
Electrical/Instrumentation Technician sponsored by Glatfelter
Employee & Labor Relations Consultant sponsored by The Ohio State University
Information Systems Specialist sponsored by 40 Plus of Central Ohio
Mid-Level Manager sponsored by 40 Plus of Central Ohio
Production Supervisor sponsored by TCC Corporate Services
Program Coordinator sponsored by Columbus State Community College
Program Manager sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia
Sales Representative sponsored by 40 Plus of Central Ohio
Sports Manager sponsored by Columbus State Community College
Travel Consultant sponsored by AAA

Test Construction Workshop, March 12-14, 2008, 8:30am-4:30pm, presented by CETE, Columbus, OH; $1,050

Constructing, evaluating, and maintaining valid, reliable assessments of job specific knowledge and skills is critical for effective workforce development (Perkins IV, Workforce Investment Act), for certification, and for human resource practice. This workshop is organized around a Test Construction Cycle in 10 steps to provide participants with practical knowledge and skills to understand the creation of valid, reliable, and defensible criterion-related tests of occupational knowledge and skill. To view the flyer and registration form, go to www.cete.org and click on events for March. Deadline: February 22, 2008.

For information: Jim Austin, austin.38@osu.edu or 614/292-9897. To register: Kathy Summerfield, summerfield.1@osu.edu or 614/688-4000.

DACUM/SCID

DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) Institute, January 28-February 1, 2008, or March 31-April 4, 2008, 8am-5pm, hosted be CETE/OSU, Columbus, OH; $1,395

SCID (Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development) Workshop, February 4-8, 2008, or April 7-11, 2008, 8am-5pm, hosted by CETE/OSU, Columbus, OH; $1,195

For information, contact Robert Norton at 614/292-8481 or norton.1@osu.edu; Debbie Weaver at 614/292-9934 or weaver.22@osu.edu; www.dacumohiostate.com.