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Professor's Resource Site

About the Framework

Learn more about the history of the framework and the use of a framework to encourage quality teaching and learning.

Why a framework?

A framework establishes community through shared expectations and a common language around effective teaching and learning (Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Pennsylvania State University, 2024; Troop, M. et al., 2024). It supports the idea of teaching as a skilled profession, where practitioners can develop expertise through research and learning and meaningful changes (Irvin, 2024; Moreira et al., 2023, p. 94, 113).

Frameworks can:

  • define faculty roles and responsibilities (Steinert, 2009, p. 371),
  • assist faculty members in self-assessment (Steinert, 2009, p. 371) and in identifying goals for their practice (Tigelaar et al., 2004, pp. 253-254),
  • provide evidence-informed principles or theoretical underpinnings (Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, n.d.),
  • create enabling constraints (Steinert, 2009, p. 372),
  • organize our thinking, doing, and feeling about education-focused professional development (Steinert, 2009, p. 371), and
  • characterize what growth and development might look like on a journey of development as a professor of the 21st century (Steinert, 2009, p. 371).

Why a competency framework?

Competencies are more than a product or outcome – they are about a process (Peterson, L.T. & Lundquist, M., 2021, p. 374). There is a transformational aspect to competencies – not just acquiring skills and abilities, but changing motivations and attitudes (Peterson, L.T. & Lundquist, M., 2021, p. 375).

Although “[t]here is no universally accepted definition of competency” (Dragoo, A. & Barrows, R., 2016, p. 374), competencies have a broad characterization that includes, but is not limited to, knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, understandings, and abilities (Dragoo, A. & Barrows, R., 2016, p. 376; Ippercial, D. & El Atia, S., 2014, p. 28). They have common elements: a process of improvement, connected to praxis and practice, linked to context and/or situation (Ippercial, D. & El Atia, S., 2014, p. 28), and with a focus on attaining the end goal, independent of time spent in courses or years of service (Vallée, 2017, p. 62).

A competency framework benefits the Algonquin College community because of its connection to development through experience and critical reflection (Peterson, L.T. & Lundquist, M., 2021, p. 274, 376; Cranton, P., 2009, p. 185) and its focus on transformation through process (Peterson, L.T. & Lundquist, M., 2021, p. 374).

History of the framework at Algonquin College

The Professor of the 21st Century describes the role of a teacher at Algonquin College, listing the skills, responsibilities, knowledge, and attitudes expected from a faculty member. This teaching competencies framework presents seven outcomes with associated critical elements. The framework is used across the Algonquin College community, most notably in hiring competitions for full-time faculty members, and is intended to serve as a guide for one’s teaching practice and professional development planning.

Created in the early 2000s, the Professor of the 20th Century was seen as revolutionary at the time. No other Ontario college was using a teaching competencies framework, and many colleges asked to see Algonquin College’s framework and used it as inspiration to create their own. From the beginning, the framework was embedded in new job postings for faculty positions, with applicants being asked to demonstrate their skill in the Professor of the 21st Century’s teaching competencies. It was also used to structure professional development offerings, with content tied to the competencies at three different levels of achievement.

Currently, the framework is still present in full-time faculty job competition postings. Although its use in professional development planning for faculty is not as central as it was previously, in 2020 the framework informed the outcomes and levelling for the Introduction to Teaching at Algonquin College (ITAC) program for new Other Than Full-Time (OTFT) faculty and the Faculty Learning Program (FLP) for new full-time faculty as an “umbrella” framework that overarched both. It is also used in learning and development planning, including the OTFT faculty self-assessment against the competencies and linked planning for professional development.

The framework was previously renewed in 2004 and 2011; however, the framework is largely the same as the original published competencies, which speaks to the initial intent for the framework’s language – that the competencies be written at a high level to ensure longevity. Learning and Teaching Services has been tasked with leading a renewal in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Works Cited

The following sources were cited in the above content:

Cranton, P. (2009). From tradesperson to teacher: a transformative transition. In J. Mezirow & E.W. Taylor (Eds.), Transformative Learning in Practice: Insights from community, workplace, and higher education (pp. 182–190). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dragoo, A., & Barrows, R. (2016). Implementing competency-based business curricula in higher education. Journal of Education for Business, 91(7), 374–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2016.1237932

Ipperciel, D., & El Atia, S. (2014). Assessing graduate attributes: Building a criteria-based competency model. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(3), 27–38. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v3n3p27

Irvin, A. (Host). (2024, May 2). Passing the Baton: A New Chapter for Dead Ideas (with Catherine Ross). [Audio Podcast Episode]. In Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning (Columbia University CTL). https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/podcast/

Moreira, M., Arcas, B. R., Sánchez, T. G., García, R. B., Melero, M. R., Cunha, N. B., Viana, M. A., & Almeida, M. (2023). Teachers’ pedagogical competences in higher education: A systematic literature review. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 20(1), 90-123. https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.01.07

Peterson, L. T., & Lundquist, M. (2021). Competency as Outcome and Process through Transformative Learning Experiences. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 41(4), 373–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2021.1946234

Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Pennsylvania State University. (2024). Assessment of Teaching. https://www.schreyerinstitute.psu.edu/assessment_of_teaching

Steinert, Y. (2009). Mapping the teacher’s role: The value of defining core competencies for teaching. Medical Teacher, 31(5), 371–372. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1080/01421590902954154

Tigelaar, D. E. H., Dolmans, D. H. J. M., Wolfhagen, I. H. A. P., & Van der Vleuten, C. P. M. (2004). The development and validation of a framework for teaching competencies in higher education. Higher Education, 48(2), 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HIGH.0000020940.46412.5a

Troop, M. ; Anne-Liisa Longmore; Marcie Theoret; Karen Booth; Erin Stripe; Emily Brown; Wayland Chau; John Laugesen; Edward Marinos; Georgia Mello; Lavan Puvaneswaran; Mojisola Oyadeyi; Douglas Peebles; and Robinson, V. (2024). Transforming Business Education. eCampus Ontario. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/transformingbusinesseducation/

Vallée, D. (2017). Exploring the effectiveness of a flipped classroom in an undergraduate exercise physiology course. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 10, 171-189. https://celt.uwindsor.ca/index.php/CELT/article/view/4716/4201

Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Backward design. Yale University. https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/BackwardDesign