Innovations in Professional Development to Create Organizational Resiliency: Future of Certificate Design & Upskilling

During the pandemic, Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS) piloted a new initiative to improve organizational resilience and access to the School’s online professional certificate programs for full-time faculty and staff. A three-part article series was collaboratively written by those who created and participated in the experiment, examining its impact.?

The series’ first article focused on the Dean’s vision for the initiative. The second article discussed the inspiration and design of the Online Instructional Design Certificate, given that more than 20% of the participants enrolled in that program. Leaders from three different areas within SCS shared their insights about how the training impacted their work and contributed to strengthening the organization. In the third and final article of the series, the authors contemplate how certificate program design in general can be further improved to advance organizational resilience. They also explore the extent to which the vision was achieved.

Improving Certificate Program Design for Resilience: Anna Butsay, Senior Instructional Designer and Technologist and Shenita Ray, Vice Dean, Education and Faculty Affairs

Synthesizing what we have learned throughout the pandemic and the pilot, which is to develop the dexterity to change and transform, there are two strategies we should explore to improve certificate program design and advance organizational resilience: expand instructional modality design, and integrate optional short-term rotational assignments into certificate programs.

First, the past year has illustrated the necessity of constructing programs with flexibility and nimbleness in mind. This concept extends to the modality, structure and sequence of the course, as well as the time needed to complete the program. We should continually invest in and pilot original program designs that offer students and faculty greater modality flexibility while concurrently remaining responsive to the course objectives and the external environment.

Prior to the pandemic, SCS only offered two ways students could learn: in-person or online asynchronously. While many students still desire an in-person or synchronous learning environment, feedback from faculty and students throughout the pandemic suggests that we need to design courses, content, assignments and assessments with greater flexibility and creativity. Thus, expanding instructional strategies to include multi-modality program frameworks that enable faculty and students to learn in-person, online synchronously, and online asynchronously--all in the same course--will allow us to achieve this aim. Intentionally building rigorous, relevant, and excellent programs with a high degree of flexibility will require forethought and experimentation. It won’t be easy or linear. However, the ability to not only design but teach and learn across multiple modalities is a strategy to not only pandemic-proof the educational infrastructure, but also improve the quality of curricular design and increase access to learning. Further, it can help upskill faculty, students and staff with competencies needed to succeed across a range of learning environments.

Second, what was striking as we reviewed the data from the survey used to gather feedback about the pilot is the extent to which the participants reported learning new skills and being motivated to apply and deepen their expertise. The majority of participants enrolled in certificate programs outside of their primary work area and expertise. Thus, they acquired fresh perspectives in content areas that broadened their strengths, skills, and marketability, essentially creating new opportunities for roles and opportunities across multiple functional areas.??

This realization sparked a novel curriculum design question: how can we deepen expertise among staff in functions beyond their primary work? We imagined that one way this could be achieved is to integrate optional short-term rotational assignments into the design and development of certificate programs that are open to faculty and staff. For instance, we envisioned supplementing the Online Instructional Design Certificate to include an optional 6-month post-certificate completion role on the School’s online team. The certificate completers would serve as “apprentice” instructional designers, working with the online team to grow their knowledge and expertise in instructional design. They would be given real instructional design projects to lead, while also receiving intensive coaching throughout the 6-month assignment. Allowing full-time employees to access authentic and experiential learning experiences and developing rotational assignments enhances their cross-functional skill set. Further, engaging in short-term assignments in other departments will lead to a more flexible, resilient, and nimble organization.

While the pilot program was instrumental in helping us uncover new strategies to further improve the design and development of professional certificate programs, did it support our efforts to enhance organizational capacity??

Vision Accomplished? Kelly Otter, Dean

Was our vision to increase access to the School’s online professional certificate programs for faculty and staff in the midst of the pandemic while also stabilizing morale, and enhancing organizational capacity achieved? To answer that question, let’s start with some demographic data. Nearly a quarter of the School’s staff completed a professional certificate as part of this initiative. The top 5 largest enrolling programs were project management, instructional design, strategic management, social impact storytelling, and managerial finance. Staff from 71% of the School’s units were represented in a certificate program, with summer and special programs, academic operations, and enrollment management leading the way.

We created a survey instrument to gather data from participants to assess their experience in the program:

• 51% responded to the survey;
• 86% stated the certificate program met their expectations; and
• 60% responded that the content aligned with their work perfectly.?

As part of the survey, we also asked participants to describe how the specific content and skills they gained from the certificate program related to their work. A respondent who completed the project management certificate shared, “I learned different business strategy models and how to identify project risk - it was extremely helpful especially when considering [the] launch of new programs at SCS.” Another participant who completed the Facilitation program stated, “My role requires me to lead meetings, manage projects across teams/departments, and work with various stakeholders on coming together. Facilitation was the perfect program to help me do my job better. I've been able to use techniques for listening, collaborating, agenda-building, and relationship-building since I started and completed the program.” Another staff member who enrolled in the Social Impact of Storytelling program said, “Learning how to tell stories in meaningful and impactful ways is really important to the mission of the marketing team so that we can encourage more people to apply to SCS.”

Based on the data, in terms of increasing access, yes, the goal was achieved. Not only were we able to extend educational opportunities to faculty and staff across a diverse range of functional areas, the competencies participants stated they developed is reflective of the organizational capacity building and resilience the School needs. Indeed, the pilot demonstrated how SCS can make a transformative organizational impact by advancing access to continuous upskilling and re-skilling opportunities. Nonetheless, there is more we can do to improve the initiative:

1. Integrate professional certificate programs as part of the annual performance review process. Managers can use annual reviews to recommend to staff that they enroll in a certificate program to improve skills and/or advance their career trajectory
2. Conduct ongoing skills assessment throughout the organization to identify new professional certificate programs and ways to improve existing programs
3. Identify shared competencies that all employees need within the organization (project management, strategic thinking, data analysis, global competence, DEI etc). Continually review and update these competencies

Despite the numerous challenges associated with the pandemic, it accelerated innovation and experimentation. The limitations associated with budget restrictions and travel bans forced us to think differently about professional development for faculty and staff. It compelled us to envision new ways of offering training opportunities, which ultimately led to using resources we already had at our fingertips - online professional certificate programs. The pilot not only helped us build organizational resilience, it taught us how to improve the quality of certificate program design. It encouraged us to imagine new ways of increasing cross-functional competencies throughout the School. Ultimately, the initiative stretched our capacity to innovate and create new solutions to overcome unprecedented constraints. I am proud of the School’s collaborative effort to bring the project to life and the impact it has had on SCS in less than a year. I am committed to supporting this initiative and continually assessing its effect on increasing access to upskilling and re-skilling opportunities and advancing staff morale.