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Quality in Mediated Instruction
Presented below is a
modification of an article that originally appeared in
Audiology Today 10 (4) July, 1998, p. 25.
Conveying Expectations About Professional Behavior Michael R. Chial, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Communicative Disorders
University of Wisconsin-MadisonOnly three learned professions were recognized as such at the beginning of the Twentieth century: law, medicine, and theology. For good or ill, ours is an age in which occupations ranging from aroma therapy to zymometry claim to be "professions" and their proponents, "professionals." It can be argued that whether an occupation rises to the status of a profession is less a function of claims of importance than of underlying principles and the values of practitioners. It also can be argued that professionalism (referring to "the manner, spirit and methods of a profession") is more about doing than about being.
Education and training in communication sciences and disorders necessarily emphasize scientific and technical knowledge, as well as clinical skill. Proper preparation also requires attention to the behaviors that distinguish professionals from amateurs and from dilettantes. These behaviors may not be taught, but they certainly can be learned. Perhaps too often we assume that formal statements of ethics and the actions of more experienced models are sufficient indicators of professional behaviors. As a result, students may be unclear about what is expected of them and when they will be accountable for those expectations. One solution is to state--in direct, behavioral terms--what is expected.
The following attempts to do so as simply as possible. It is not intended as rant and cant, but rather as a set of behavioral aspirations. Some of us may have fallen short of some these aspirations at some time or other. That is less important than our efforts to do the right thing the next time.
Professionalism
Audiology and speech-language pathology are professional disciplines. Professions require certain behaviors of their practitioners. Professional behaviors (which may or may not directly involve other people) have to do with professional tasks and responsibilities, with the individuals served by the profession, and with relations with other professionals. Included among professional tasks are education and training. The following conveys expectations about the behaviors of those who seek to join these professions.
- You show up.
- You show up on time.
- You show up prepared.
- You show up in a frame of mind appropriate to the professional task.
- You show up properly attired.
- You accept the idea that "on time," "prepared," "appropriate," and "properly" are defined by the situation, by the nature of the task, or by another person.
- You accept that your first duty is to the ultimate welfare of the persons served by your profession, and that "ultimate welfare" is a complex mix of desires, wants, needs, abilities and capacities.
- You recognize that professional duties and situations are about completing tasks and about solving problems in ways that benefit others, either immediately or in the long term. They are not about you. When you are called upon to behave as a professional, you are not the patient, the customer, the star, or the victim.
- You place the importance of professional duties, tasks and problem solving above your own convenience.
- You strive to work effectively with others for the benefit of the persons served. This means you pursue professional duties, tasks and problem solving in ways that make it easier (not harder) for others to accomplish their work.
- You properly credit others for their work.
- You sign your work.
- You take responsibility for your actions, your reactions, and your inaction. This means you do not avoid responsibility by offering excuses, by blaming others, by emotional displays, or by helplessness.
- You do not accept professional duties or tasks for which you are personally or professionally unprepared.
- You do what you say you will do. By the time you said you would do it. To the extent you said you would do it. And to the degree of quality you said you would do it.
- You take active responsibility for expanding the limits of your knowledge, understanding and skill.
- You vigorously seek and tell the truth, including those truths that may be less than flattering to you.
- You accept direction (including correction) from those who are more knowledgeable or more experienced. You provide direction (including correction) to those who are less knowledgeable or less experienced.
- You value the resources required to perform professional duties, tasks, and problem solving, including your time and that of others.
- You accord respect to the values, interests, and opinions of others that may differ from your own, as long as they are not objectively harmful to the persons served.
- You accept the fact that others may establish objectives for you. While you may not always agree with those goals, or may not fully understand them, you will pursue them as long as they are not objectively harmful to the persons served.
- When you attempt a task for the second time, you seek to do it better than you did it the first time. You revise the ways you approach professional duties, tasks, and problem solving in consideration of peer judgments of best practice.
- You accept the imperfections of the world in ways that do not compromise the interests of those you serve, or your own pursuit of excellence.
- You base your opinions, actions and relations with others upon sound empirical evidence, and upon examined personal values consistent with the above.
- You expect all of the above from other professionals.