Accountability for Lifelong Learning
2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 109; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.jada.2008.12.004
ISSN1878-3570
Autores Tópico(s)Dietetics, Nutrition, and Education
ResumoI am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.—Eartha Kitt Over the past several months, you've received many messages about ADA's current Strategic Plan that began June 1, 2008—enough that by now I hope you have committed our Mission and Vision to memory. In addition to ADA's Mission and Vision, our strategic planning process created four ADA Values. Values—sometimes called affirmations or commitments—are important in attaining a vision, and they guide an organization's behavior, fostering alignment between individuals and the organization to which they belong. The concept of values and value statements in the context of a strategic plan can be defined as how people want to behave with each other in the organization. How do we value customers, suppliers, and our internal community? Value statements describe actions that are the living enactment of the fundamental values held by most individuals within the organization (1Heathfield SM. Build a strategic framework: Mission, vision, values. About.com: Human Resources Web site. http://humanresources.about.com/cs/strategicplanning1/a/strategicplan_3.htm. Accessed November 21, 2008.Google Scholar). ADA's values are Customer Focus, Integrity, Innovation, and Social Responsibility. The description developed for the Integrity value is: “Act ethically with accountability for lifelong learning and commitment to excellence.” Although ethics and the role of ADA's Ethics Committee are a critical part of this ADA Value, as is the concept of excellence, it's accountability for lifelong learning that I want to discuss—in particular the “lifelong” aspect. Completing the requirements for an educational degree at any level certainly is a cause for pride, especially when we hear heartening stories on the news—about an octogenarian who fulfills her dream of completing a college degree, or a high-school dropout who finally completes his GED with plans to continue at a community college. The joy and feelings of accomplishment are evident on their faces, and those of their families. As registered dietitians or dietetic technicians, registered, we certainly feel the same sense of accomplishment upon receiving our degrees, but of course our education is not complete on graduation day. We are required to account for our learning at regular 5-year intervals. Many of us who are licensed by our state or commonwealth also have to account for these learning activities. Do you look upon this with joy and anticipation as a learning opportunity, or as a must-do chore that you postpone until the last minute? Unfortunately, it seems too many of us in dietetics regard it as the latter. For example, I occasionally hear practitioners grumble about the Professional Development Portfolio (PDP), and I am not talking about people who are marginally qualified. Many are highly successful practitioners and leaders. Surprisingly, even gifted entrepreneurs have expressed to me their frustrations about the PDP. My response is always this: “Of the best-selling nonfiction books, how many are on the topic of setting goals for your life and taking steps to achieve them? Last time I checked it was quite a few!” What is the PDP but an opportunity to set professional goals and determine a plan to achieve them? The best part of it is, the PDP helps us identify both areas of weakness and areas of interest where we might concentrate our efforts over the next 5-year period. Learning opportunities should be greeted with excitement—not only in the sense of enhancing one's skills, but also for the simple joy of learning. Every quarter, I receive the class schedule from a local university's extension program and, every time I page through it, the excitement of all the learning opportunities I could be pursuing grabs me all over again. Unfortunately, my travel schedule this year makes fulfilling that dream a little more difficult for the time being. As high school and college students, we eagerly anticipated the end of the term, just as a runner would welcome the end of the race. Does the runner then stop running for good? Usually not. He or she eagerly anticipates the next race, the next opportunity, as we all should with respect to opportunities to continue learning, both in our profession as well as in other areas of interest to us. And in today's advanced age of technology, opportunities to learn without leaving home are more and more plentiful. Several dietetics programs now offer distance learning options. Last month, I wrote about having a positive attitude. Let's extend that attitude toward learning, and maintain it for the rest of our lives.
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