Self-Assessment Inventories - Essay Example

 Self-Assessment Inventories Introduction In every career, it is always important to have a full understanding of one’s competences in the line of duty. Self-awareness in terms of duty performance is of much benefit regarding the future of one’s career. No one is perfect. That is true. Every human has his/her own strengths and weaknesses. At work, it is self-awareness in terms of strengths and weaknesses can help in enhancing and improving performance. It is through the self-knowledge that a person can learn to harness the potential of his/her strengths and on how to control how the weaknesses affect his/her daily undertakings at work. Various methods can be used to evaluate ones competency at work. One of these is the self-Assessment inventories. Abstract Self-assessment inventories are structured closed end questionnaires, which are meant to collect information concerning someone’s beliefs, virtues, and principles guiding that person at work. The subject individual in gauging his technical standing concerning his/her performance can use self-assessment information. The data collected will be standardized using stipulated set of principles expected from an individual in the course of duty. The stipulated principles define how an ideal career person ought to administer his/her practices at work. Self-assessment inventories will provide an insight on someone’s strengths and weaknesses at work. Someone’s competencies will evaluated in referent to the degree of deviation that exist between that individual’s actual principles of work and the stipulated guidelines that defines and ideal person at work. Based on the abstract, the self-assessment inventories are meant to supplement me with my actual performance level information as an adult educator. The assessment inventories will unearth my philosophy as a teacher and my technical abilities as an adult educator. The data from the inventory tables will enable me to gain an in-depth understanding of myself as a teacher. The teaching principles are to act as the reference point concerning the ideal practices required of an adult teacher. Based on the findings, I will be able to evaluate my competence having contrasted my actual practice principles with the expected set of teaching principles and philosophy. I assessed my abilities categorically based on the title of the inventories. Competences for teaching adults All categories of learners require specific needs of technical skills during learning. The requirements for successful early childhood education are not similar to those for adult education. Therefore, as a teacher, one has to possess the appropriate set of qualities that characterizes a successful administration of knowledge to learners (David, 2005 P.138). As an adult educator, I acknowledge the necessary skills needed to enhance proper dispensation of knowledge to the students. The inventory data concerning the competences for teaching adults will depict my performance level in terms of the technical aspects I stick to when teaching. This inventory narrows down to assessing my technical capability on the most crucial contents of teaching. Based on the (1-7) scale scores in every section of the inventory, I could define my teaching competence. From the data contained in the inventory, I could acknowledge the fact that based on my self-knowledge; I slightly disagree with two statements, neutral on two statements and I slightly agree with the other two statements. The scoring depicts that I am slightly competent on some areas and slightly incompetent on other areas concerning self-knowledge as an adult educator. On content expertise, I slightly disagree with three statements and slightly agree with the other three statements. This shows that I am competent on the area of conducting task analysis and on my subject understanding. However, I do not have enough competencies on the access of resources and on the requisite knowledge and skills. On the knowledge of adult learners, four statements do not concern my competency. These are mainly the social and ethical aspects of my students, like catering for their special needs. However, I understand the psychological aspects of adult learners concerning their motivation and their style of learning. I have little competence on matters concerning the characteristics that affect adult learning and on the theories of learning. I am neutral on the physical and social characteristics that affect my students learning and participation. In the area of context knowledge, I am familiar with the organization’s academic facilities. However, I have little competency on the aspects of understanding the organization’s mission, planning a program and on my understanding of the organization’s budget. The areas that do not relate to my technical skills include the non-academic issues of the organization like politics. On instructional design, I am competent on most of the aspects including developing syllabus and evaluating learners. I am also capable of developing lesson plans and identifying resource people. I do not relate my teaching with understanding the learning domains, sequencing learning processes and developing an overall instructional design plan. In addition, I have little competence on selecting the learning materials and on the components of learning activities. Concerning teaching methods and techniques, I am competent in presenting and directing learners. I am also skilled in conducting group activities and on the various teaching techniques. I have average competency in using questions and creating a positive learning environment. However, I find it a little hard on altering teaching plans. On the use of technology, I have the required technical skills in handling adult learners. However, I possess low competency on issues regarding data collection and management. Based on the data contained in the inventory, I am in a good position to evaluate my competency in teaching adult students. I have the required competency on the use of technology and on the area of teaching methods and techniques. I also possess considerable skills in instructional design, content expertise and on self-knowledge. My knowledge of the adult learners is mainly restricted to the academic aspects and not on their social or economic issues. However, I possess minimum competence on the aspect of data collection and management. Based on the information, I have learned that I have the required competency level in the technical aspects of adult education. My weaknesses are on data collection and management and on context knowledge. Educational Beliefs On the context of my beliefs concerning teaching and instructing, I agree with most of the statements. Among my beliefs, include the principles that learning depends on what one already knows. From the ratings, I can point out that I stress on the importance of having the necessary knowledge of the subject matter. My beliefs revolve around the aspect of gaining credible knowledge on studying. My teaching practices focuses mostly on the objective part of learning and not on the social aspects concerning academics. Based on this inventory, I disagree with the notion that teaching should focus on societal change. I always direct my teaching on an individual and not on the environment surrounding that person. Based on the inventory data, I can understand that my teaching belief revolves around developing a completely rounded student and ensuring the students captures the study content. I put more emphasis on the aspect of content delivery to my students. The only part I may need to improve at is on the social concept of education. I need to acknowledge the fact that there is a relationship between education and the social environment of the learner. Educational Intentions My intention for teaching is not on spoon-feeding my students with tailor-made skills and tricks on handling academic challenges. I do not emphasize the issue of having to pass examinations based on my teaching styles. Actually, I expect my students to master the concepts and to be able to apply the concepts to real life situations articulately. I also expect my students to put the knowledge they gain into improving the society. I usually assert the importance of self-esteem development by my students. On the other hand, I do not like my students to view academic problems as complex. I encourage them to acknowledge the facts and realities of education, which includes the importance of a thorough understanding of concepts and how to apply it. Based on this assessment, I understand that I value the principle of developing a completely rounded student. I emphasize the importance of applying the knowledge in solving real life problems and not in using the knowledge to pass examinations. Principles of Adult Learning scale Principles of adult learning sets out the values of my learning and the aspects I encourage my students to adopt while teaching (David, 2005 P.88). From the inventory, I never punish my students. I rarely encourage my students to appraise their performance based on their own criterion. On matters of relating to students, I treat them equally and objectively. I never encourage casual interactions with my learners during the learning period. Though I understand students’ situations concerning academic matters, I do not discriminate against my students. I also allow them no chance to plan what they should learn and what they should not learn. I teach them what they ought to know. I also believe in motivating students to achieve their objectives in life. Though learning relates to other social aspects of life, I never spent my time attending to the social or economical issues of my students. Objective learning is what I hold as my main principle in adult teaching. From the assessment scorings, I can say that my teaching principles are mainly based on content delivery and knowledge dispensing. I also emphasize the importance of a student developing his/her own exceptional skills on how to handle situations and not to depend on anybody for help. Conclusion A self-assessment exercise enhances self-understanding in one’s life. From the four inventories, the statement scorings depicts my strongly held beliefs and philosophies as an adult educator. Being aware of these beliefs and principles will enable me to identify the areas I need to improve. The inventory responses provide information about my teaching practices, which upon evaluating depicts my strengths and weaknesses as an adult teacher. This will help me in knowing my potential and exploit it to the maximum. It has also helped me to know my weaknesses and to figure out how to control the influence these weaknesses has on my profession. This will enable me to restructure my teaching practices and to improve my service delivery to my students. Reference David, B. (2005). Enhancing learning through self-assessment. New York, NY: Routledge. Read More