Challenge Accepted!
I tend to flourish best when I have a challenging project to complete. I don't often get challenges at my place of employment, so I have to create my own challenges. I have done so.
I am currently working on an intuitive evaluation program for use in my internship. I can hear you now...
"What?"
"What is an intuitive evaluation program? How would it work in an internship? Have you lost your mind out there??"
I have this grand idea of a competency-based evaluation program that would be user-friendly, accommodate multiple grades over a period of time (determined by the primary user), and indicate areas that needed to be addressed in a timely manner in ways that make it obvious where improvement is needed.
"What?"
So, I am starting to play around with the AMTA Professional Competencies a bit.
Now, I'm already a competency-geek! I think that they are a great starting point for teaching and learning the basic skills that all entry-level therapists should know and demonstrate, but I have some issues with how they are put together. (Don't worry, I've expressed these concerns with the people who are involved in revising the competencies... I believe in going directly to the source!) Anyway, there are several competencies that attempt to measure more than one thing - a big No-No in my book. Recognizing and responding are two very different things, in my experience. Many of the competencies are vague - how do you demonstrate awareness of psychological functioning in another human being? Others are matter-of-fact, easily observed in another, and to the point.
If you have never seen my competency-based evaluation, you would probably be in for quite a shock. It's more than just the AMTA Professional Competencies - I've defined each of the competencies into operational definitions - what I think these competencies actually mean in terms of skills, techniques, abilities, and demonstration elements. For example, the first competency, 1.1 states "Recognize standard works in the literature." This is in the area for Music History and Music Theory. My question is "What is a standard work?" That is quickly followed by "What is the literature? All music from all times from here to eternity?" I don't have the patience, ability, or interest to test whether my interns know about Gregorian chant patterns or how to analyze 12-tone music. That is irrelevant to the internship process (in my opinion - and this is my blog, so I get to express my opinion wherever and however I like!!). So, how do I evaluate whether an intern is competent in this area?
I expand on the idea presented in the competency this way.
The intern will:
I am trying to delineate each of these competencies into easily identified or observed behaviors that I can evaluate with a "Yes/No" answer and then use in the course of everyday life to evaluate the intern's progress.
"Did the intern use popular music in the music therapy session?" "Yes."
Next question: "Which type of popular music?" "Country, rock, hip-hop."
Okay.
"Did the intern use music from different time periods?" "No - all music from 21st century." ALERT to INTERN to VARY TIME PERIODS OF MUSIC SELECTIONS (after several sessions, of course)
I have most of the competencies defined operationally (by the way, this has been the way I've evaluated all of my students since about 2000 when the competencies arrived! I even have a way to evaluate practicum students in each of their levels of experience! I'm not kidding when I say that this is a bit of an obsession with me!!), so that portion of the evaluation is ready to go. I am not satisfied with how it is reported yet, and therein lies the challenge.
Here's what I want to be able to do.
First, I want to sell this to other people, so there have to be places where things can be changed or adapted to accommodate those other people in their other internship programs...
Second, I want to link my feedback forms directly to the evaluation so I can keep real-time data in the evaluation all the time (I actually know how to do this, but am finding the reality of all of these links a bit daunting).
Third, I want to be able to see where an intern is having difficulty so we can easily address these areas of focus.
Fourth, I want it to look pretty. This is a kind of superficial idea, but it's important. Things need to look simple and easy to use. The background of how things work can be a bit more messy, but the actual user interface has to be neat, clean, and easy!
Fifth, I have to print these evaluations for signatures, so the file cannot be too bulky. Professors don't like getting 30 page evaluations to fill out (I've been told - I usually counter with a comment like "Well, then you should have your own competency-based evaluation ready to send out with each intern so you don't have to do mine! They don't like that a whole lot, either!), so the first version needs to be short, sweet, and still packed with the information that I need to know about an incoming intern. After that, I can use as much paper as I need to evaluate my interns!
I think that's all that I want right now. That's really more than enough!!!
I've toyed with the idea of Google Docs, purchasing a Learning Management System, and Excel. Right now, I am most comfortable with Excel, but I don't think that will fly outside of my own little internship program. I am finding this project one to keep on challenging me until I get a finished product.
Well, off to go updating my current form into the new AMTA Professional Competencies so I can keep going on all of this!!
Wish me luck!
I am currently working on an intuitive evaluation program for use in my internship. I can hear you now...
"What?"
"What is an intuitive evaluation program? How would it work in an internship? Have you lost your mind out there??"
I have this grand idea of a competency-based evaluation program that would be user-friendly, accommodate multiple grades over a period of time (determined by the primary user), and indicate areas that needed to be addressed in a timely manner in ways that make it obvious where improvement is needed.
"What?"
So, I am starting to play around with the AMTA Professional Competencies a bit.
Now, I'm already a competency-geek! I think that they are a great starting point for teaching and learning the basic skills that all entry-level therapists should know and demonstrate, but I have some issues with how they are put together. (Don't worry, I've expressed these concerns with the people who are involved in revising the competencies... I believe in going directly to the source!) Anyway, there are several competencies that attempt to measure more than one thing - a big No-No in my book. Recognizing and responding are two very different things, in my experience. Many of the competencies are vague - how do you demonstrate awareness of psychological functioning in another human being? Others are matter-of-fact, easily observed in another, and to the point.
If you have never seen my competency-based evaluation, you would probably be in for quite a shock. It's more than just the AMTA Professional Competencies - I've defined each of the competencies into operational definitions - what I think these competencies actually mean in terms of skills, techniques, abilities, and demonstration elements. For example, the first competency, 1.1 states "Recognize standard works in the literature." This is in the area for Music History and Music Theory. My question is "What is a standard work?" That is quickly followed by "What is the literature? All music from all times from here to eternity?" I don't have the patience, ability, or interest to test whether my interns know about Gregorian chant patterns or how to analyze 12-tone music. That is irrelevant to the internship process (in my opinion - and this is my blog, so I get to express my opinion wherever and however I like!!). So, how do I evaluate whether an intern is competent in this area?
I expand on the idea presented in the competency this way.
The intern will:
- Use popular music (Top 40, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop) in music therapy sessions
- Use music from different genres, cultures, time periods, and styles during music therapy sessions
- Develop TMEs that incorporate music from different genres, cultures, time periods, and styles for inclusion in the TME File
I am trying to delineate each of these competencies into easily identified or observed behaviors that I can evaluate with a "Yes/No" answer and then use in the course of everyday life to evaluate the intern's progress.
"Did the intern use popular music in the music therapy session?" "Yes."
Next question: "Which type of popular music?" "Country, rock, hip-hop."
Okay.
"Did the intern use music from different time periods?" "No - all music from 21st century." ALERT to INTERN to VARY TIME PERIODS OF MUSIC SELECTIONS (after several sessions, of course)
I have most of the competencies defined operationally (by the way, this has been the way I've evaluated all of my students since about 2000 when the competencies arrived! I even have a way to evaluate practicum students in each of their levels of experience! I'm not kidding when I say that this is a bit of an obsession with me!!), so that portion of the evaluation is ready to go. I am not satisfied with how it is reported yet, and therein lies the challenge.
Here's what I want to be able to do.
First, I want to sell this to other people, so there have to be places where things can be changed or adapted to accommodate those other people in their other internship programs...
Second, I want to link my feedback forms directly to the evaluation so I can keep real-time data in the evaluation all the time (I actually know how to do this, but am finding the reality of all of these links a bit daunting).
Third, I want to be able to see where an intern is having difficulty so we can easily address these areas of focus.
Fourth, I want it to look pretty. This is a kind of superficial idea, but it's important. Things need to look simple and easy to use. The background of how things work can be a bit more messy, but the actual user interface has to be neat, clean, and easy!
Fifth, I have to print these evaluations for signatures, so the file cannot be too bulky. Professors don't like getting 30 page evaluations to fill out (I've been told - I usually counter with a comment like "Well, then you should have your own competency-based evaluation ready to send out with each intern so you don't have to do mine! They don't like that a whole lot, either!), so the first version needs to be short, sweet, and still packed with the information that I need to know about an incoming intern. After that, I can use as much paper as I need to evaluate my interns!
I think that's all that I want right now. That's really more than enough!!!
I've toyed with the idea of Google Docs, purchasing a Learning Management System, and Excel. Right now, I am most comfortable with Excel, but I don't think that will fly outside of my own little internship program. I am finding this project one to keep on challenging me until I get a finished product.
Well, off to go updating my current form into the new AMTA Professional Competencies so I can keep going on all of this!!
Wish me luck!
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