Colleges and Universities Need More Than Subject-Matter Experts: Expertise Must Become…

Colleges and Universities Need More Than Subject-Matter Experts: Expertise Must Become Student Capability

Colleges and universities are built around expertise.

Adjunct instructors bring professional experience.

Industry practitioners bring current workplace expertise.

Business faculty bring organizational experience.

Business faculty bring organizational experience.

Cybersecurity professionals bring cybersecurity expertise.

Technology professionals bring experience across multiple technology ecosystems.

But once a professional enters a classroom, laboratory, virtual environment, workshop, or professional-development program, another question becomes important:

Can that expertise be transferred effectively to someone else?

Can that expertise be transferred effectively to someone else?

Knowing a subject deeply and developing another person's capability around that subject are related—but different—professional responsibilities.

That's why FDTEC developed FDTEC Certified Instructor™ — a Cross-Platform Professional Instructor Certification.

You bring the subject-matter expertise. FDTEC develops the professional instructor capability.

Explore FDTEC Certified Instructor™: https://fdtec.co/product/fdtec-certified-instructor/

Explore FDTEC Certified Instructor™: https://fdtec.co/product/fdtec-certified-instructor/

Higher education appropriately values expertise.

That expertise gives students access to someone who understands the subject.

The student does not need the instructor merely to possess knowledge.

The student needs to develop capability from it.

The student needs to develop capability from it.

Consider an experienced cybersecurity professional.

But teaching cybersecurity requires additional capabilities.

Can they determine what students already understand?

Can they ask questions that expose misconceptions?

Can they ask questions that expose misconceptions?

Can they connect theory to workplace application?

The same principle applies to healthcare, business, technology, engineering, sales, finance, manufacturing, leadership, and other disciplines.

Students increasingly expect education to help them do more than acquire information.

That puts additional emphasis on the movement from:

That puts additional emphasis on the movement from:

This is particularly important in professionally oriented programs.

FDTEC's Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness™ (KTE™) framework examines learning through five stages:

Knowledge → Understanding → Retention → Application → Performance

Explore Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness™: https://fdtec.co/knowledge-transfer-effectiveness/

Explore Knowledge Transfer Effectiveness™: https://fdtec.co/knowledge-transfer-effectiveness/

Did the student acquire the necessary concepts, facts, principles, processes, or skills?

Can the student explain the concept and demonstrate meaningful comprehension?

Retention — Is it still available after time has passed?

Can the student retrieve important knowledge beyond the immediate examination?

Can the student retrieve important knowledge beyond the immediate examination?

Can the student use what was learned to solve a problem, perform a task, analyze a situation, or address a professional scenario?

Performance — Is it producing the expected capability or result?

Can the learner perform at the level the educational experience was intended to develop?

They can provide evidence of achievement against defined requirements.

They can provide evidence of achievement against defined requirements.

But a grade alone cannot answer every question about knowledge transfer.

But can they retrieve the knowledge months later?

Can they adapt the knowledge when conditions change?

These questions become especially important when education is intended to prepare students…

These questions become especially important when education is intended to prepare students for professional performance.

Assessment and application are related, but they are not automatically identical.

Students frequently encounter an educational pattern:

But professional knowledge often needs to survive much longer.

A student may learn a concept during the first year of a program and need it again:

A student may learn a concept during the first year of a program and need it again:

That means immediate understanding is only one stage.

Knowledge must remain available long enough to become useful.

This is why Retention occupies its own position within KTE™.

A student may be able to explain a concept perfectly.

A student may be able to explain a concept perfectly.

Different disciplines will require different evidence.

Candidates Qualify Through One Accepted Pathway

One accepted pathway means you need only one of these three.

Certification OR Experience OR Employer Verification

Questions About Professional Instructor Certification