Undertaking CPD is not just about going on a course; being open to trying new ways of learning is an important skill to develop. In our final instalment in the series, we help you consider activities that you can do as part of your own continuous professional development, starting at the letter ‘U’. 

 

 

Taken from CPD for the Career Development Professional by Siobhan Neary and Claire Johnson.

u

UPDATING COLLEAGUES

What this is:

Passing on knowledge to colleagues that you have learned from attending an event or from your own reading or research.

How can this be used as CPD:

Having attended an event or undertaken some reading/research you will be able to think through what you have learned and which aspects of this will be of benefit to your colleagues. Reflecting in this way on what you have learned helps you to embed what you have learned, and the act of updating colleagues allows you to articulate this, which further embeds your knowledge as well as providing you with the opportunity to hear the perspectives of others on what you have learned.

USER GROUPS

What this is:

A group of people focused on the use of a particular product. This can be around using new types of technology, but could be broader than this and cover the use of a particular product or service.

How this can be used as CPD:

Being involved in the testing or evaluation of a new product is a useful way to find out about the product and to think through how you could use this in your own practice. It also hones your own skills of evaluation, reporting and providing constructive feedback, as well as the opportunity to hear the views of others in the group.

V

VIMEO

What this is:

A video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. It is also used by universities and others for recording lectures.

How this can be used as CPD:

Having looked at your CPD needs, you can search Vimeo to see if there are any videos there that would help to meet your needs.

Useful examples/websites:

VISITING OTHER PROVIDERS

What this is:

Using opportunities to network with colleagues, visit their services or centres and build up your referral contacts.

How this can be used as CPD:

Being able to see how a different organisation provides their services can inspire your own thinking. Thinking through the questions you want to ask before the visit can help you to clarify your own thoughts about the way you deliver your services and you can then compare and contrast this with the services offered elsewhere. This is also a useful source of networking.

VOCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

What this is:

Vocational qualifications offer practical learning programmes that relate to specific job roles or employment sectors. They are designed to help learning in a practical way about a specific job area.

How this can be used as CPD:

Undertaking a vocational qualification can help you to learn specific skills and knowledge for your current or future work role. It is often possible to take units from a vocational qualification, rather than the whole qualification, if you want to develop a specific area of your practice.

Useful examples/websites:

VOCOPHER

What this is:

The purpose of Vocopher is to provide researchers and counsellors with resources with which to further their research and assist their clients respectively. These services are provided free of charge in the hope that others will join in this collaborative effort. The site contains career construction materials and old (1990s) recordings of famous career theorists, including Donald Super and John Krumboltz.

How this can be used as CPD:

Having determined your CPD needs, you can search the Vocopher website for items of relevance to you. It is also worth having a general exploration of what is there and reading some of the documents/viewing some of the videos to see how these can inspire your creativity and thinking about your practice.

Useful examples/websites:

 

W

WEBINARS

What this is:

Short for web-based seminar, a webinar is a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the web using video-conferencing software. A key feature of a webinar is its interactive elements: the ability to give, receive and discuss information in real-time. Recordings of the webinar can sometimes be available for both participants and those who were unable to attend. These are different to webcasts in which the data transmission is one way and does not allow interaction between the presenter and the audience.

How this can be used as CPD:

Webinars can be used to meet your identified CPD needs or as a means of exploring new topics. As they can be offered and accessed from anywhere in the world, the range of webinars available is large.

Useful examples/websites:

WORK SHADOWING

What this is:

This involves working with another employee who might do a different job, or have something to teach, or can help the person shadowing him or her to learn new aspects related to the job, organisation, certain behaviours, skills or knowledge.

How this can be used as CPD:

Having looked at your own CPD needs, you may decide that there is a colleague who can help you to meet these needs by allowing you to work-shadow them. If you are interested in a different role within your organisation, then work-shadowing someone in this role is a useful way of finding out about what is involved.

WRITING

How this can be used as CPD:

Writing enables you to clarify your own thoughts and present them in a way that others will understand. If what you write also involves you undertaking some research, then this further adds to your knowledge.

You could write articles for journals and magazines, newsletters, academic papers, blogs or websites.

Writing is also a good means of reflecting on your practice. The physical act of writing down what has happened during your working day will help you to reflect on what has happened and what you have learned as a result of this.

 

X

XYLOPHONE PLAYING – work/life balance and learning from your hobbies

What this is:

It is important to strike a work/life balance and you have a duty of care to yourself to be fit and healthy to undertake your job role.

How this can be used as CPD:

Sometimes, hobbies or extracurricular interests can be a useful source of CPD. You might run a local youth football team, and this can help you to develop knowledge about young people and hone your coaching skills. Local amateur dramatic groups are a useful way to develop self-confidence and speaking in public. Being on a committee helps to develop team-working skills. And so on. The important thing is to reflect on what your outside activities are and how these can be used to develop relevant skills and knowledge for your working life. Remember – every day is a training day, both inside and outside of work.

 

Y

YOUTUBE

What this is:

A video-sharing website.

How this can be used as CPD:

You can search YouTube for videos that may meet some of your identified CPD needs, or simply search on career development areas/topics and use your critical faculties to judge what is there and its relevance to your needs. Recordings of the CDI webinars are available via YouTube.

Useful examples/websites:

 

Z

Zzzz

What this is:

Sleep is restorative.

How this can be used as CPD:

Sometimes what can seem to be a problem can look much better after a good night’s sleep. Sleep gives your brain the chance to recover and consolidate what you have learned, and your learning can benefit from this the following day, as will your powers of concentration and your ability to remember what you have learned.