Professional Development: Are You on Top of Your Game?
Purpose
With the continuous evolution of GIS technology, there is one constant – change. Regardless of our role (instructor, researcher, student), we all must keep our knowledge current and develop new skills—for personal and professional growth.
- Why is this important?
- How do we stay up to speed amidst the constant changes?
- How do we approach professional development?
- What is a learning style that suits us best as individuals, and what are the available methods/resources?
This blog will address the questions above and focus on why professional development should matter. The purpose of the blog is to have us think about how we learn as individuals and what resources and options are available - depending on learning styles and budgets.
What is it
Professional development can be defined in many ways. Ultimately, it is the notion of continuing education and career training after entering the workforce. It can be pursued in several options:
- Taking classes or workshops
- Attending industry and professional conferences/events
- Earning a certificate to expand knowledge in a chosen area
- Self-studying
Why do we want to do it
In a technology field, everything changes. People who work in such technology fields need to have their skill sharpened every so often to keep current - we constantly have to re-skill and up-skill. Especially with advancements of technology (whether being changes in how we do GIS, or AI, or other shiny new methods), the need to be upskilling much more frequently throughout our lives has become paramount. Lifelong learning is not just a buzz word, it is how we work and exist today. And broadly speaking, as adults we will just need to be learning much more throughout our lives. Yet why?
- Encourage career growth/career path.
- Whatever your job role is, professional development can promote skill development, build confidence, and lead to new qualifications.
- It can help secure employment, advance careers – especially important in a world of uncertainty.
- Enhance our teaching/work – as Educators.
- Keeping ourselves up to speed gets conveyed to students via course work, projects, etc. , who themselves enter the workforce and introduce further advancements in a given field.
How we learn (broadly)
There are different learning styles – as individuals we have preferences, likes and dislikes, and lean toward certain options. The future for Education, broadly speaking, in a sense may lie in in tailoring educational experiences to individual learners – and while that is difficult and we are not quite there yet, we can start thinking about what resonates with various learning styles and personalities.
These learning styles are different methods of learning or understanding new information, the way a person takes in, understand, expresses and remembers that information. There are 4 predominant learning styles:
- Visual learners, who learn by consuming visual content like videos.
- Auditory learners, who learn by listening (lectures, audiobooks, etc.).
- Reading learners, who need to read text to absorb information.
- Kinesthetic learners, who learn best by practicing and being hands-on.
Understanding your personal learning style can be a game-changer in your career development.
How we learn (GIS)
When it comes to GIS technology, and specifically Esri resources, there are many options to chose from, depending on the learning styles above.
- Visual learners
- Training Seminars/videos (live or recorded)
- Tech Workshops (live or recorded)
- Webinars (live or recorded)
- Tutorials (short, interactive, self-paced tutorials on focused workflows)
- ArcGIS Labs (e-learning format part of Esri Academy catalog)
- Auditory learners
- Training Seminars/videos (live or recorded)
- Tech Workshops (live or recorded)
- Webinars (live or recorded)
- Reading learners
- Web Courses (interactive, self-paced courses on various topics)
- Documentation (ArcGIS documentation on specific technology)
- Blogs (industry blogs)
- Tutorials (short, interactive, self-paced tutorials on focused workflows)
- ArcGIS Labs (e-learning format part of Esri Academy catalog)
- Esri Press (books)
- Kinesthetic learners
- Tutorials (short, interactive, self-paced tutorials on focused workflows)
- ArcGIS Labs (e-learning format part of Esri Academy catalog)
- Web Courses (interactive, self-paced courses on various topics)
- Instructor-led training (courses taught by live, expert instructors)
All of these different methods can be found here – easily searchable to find the topic/workflow you wish:
Concluding remarks
There is a difference between Training and Education. While Training typically can include learning technical or soft skills, Education is much broader than that and focuses on learning skills way beyond technology – it encompasses a learning community, learning support, learning network, learning to engage, learning to collaborate, learning to communicate and work with others.
Acquiring and leveraging such learning community network, support and collaboration, which are a fundamental aspect of Education, can be pursued in various ways, whether thru formal education (colleges and universities) or informal education (industry associations, events, certifications by private organizations, etc.). These will be addressed in another blog.
In the meantime, whether we are learning ourselves, or teaching our students, consider thinking thru the options above that resonate to individual learning styles - to continually update our skills.
Comments and discussion welcomed!