Methodology: Competency and Attribute Statements for Professional, Continuing, and Online Practitioners

UPCEA, the professional association for those in professional, continuing, and online (PCO) postsecondary education, sought to develop a competency set to serve as the foundation for various activities within the association. To that end, 75 postsecondary associations and sources were identified for review as these sources were focused on specific job tasks and roles in postsecondary learning (AACRAO for registrars, NASPA for student affairs professionals, etc.) with similarities and alignment to the roles often found in PCO units. Of the 75 sources reviewed, 19 sources had competency sets available via their organization’s website.

After identifying 550 multidimensional items for inclusion in a qualitative review from these 19 sources UPCEA team members engaged in thematic coding. Eight initial themes emerged: Critical thinking and decision-making, human resource management/higher education leadership, information and digital technology, integrity and ethics, program planning, supporting and advocating for constituencies, marketing, research, and evaluation, and partnerships and relationship-building. These themes were validated by the UPCEA network vice-chairs for professional development and the online leadership roundtable professional development subcommittee, various UPCEA members as well as UPCEA staff members with knowledge of PCO operations.

All 550 items were then coded to the themes. During the item coding process three more themes emerged: entrepreneurship/business orientation, goal-setting and results-driven, and administrative tasks. The original eight themes were supplemented by the three emergent themes and supported by over 60 sub themes and topics identified prior to item/theme coding. Once coding was complete, an UPCEA staff member worked to summarize and construct competency statements and nest topics that would be a subset of each statement. These items were grouped under headings that aligned with UPCEA’s two Hallmarks of Excellence documents to reflect an alignment between the enterprise-focused and aspirational Hallmarks and the individually-focused, specific competency statements. This arrangement of statements does not suggest magnitude or priority but rather an attempt to show the alignment between PCO enterprises and the individuals charged with PCO initiatives. This work constituted the UPCEA competency areas and statements seen here.

Once arranged, the UPCEA competency areas and statements were reviewed and validated by various groups within UPCEA (network vice-chairs for professional development, online leadership roundtable professional development subcommittee, online leadership roundtable advisory board members, select UPCEA members, UPCEA board members, and UPCEA staff members). Four additional sources were included during the final competency area and statement process, resulting in 23 sources listed on the Competency Resources page.