Improving 21st Century Competencies thru Storytelling

Synthesis. Paul Oord and Cecile Crutzen in their paper, Storytelling as a Link Between Formal Knowledge and Actual Performance in a Critical Transformative Design Environment, expound on the connection between formal knowledge and actual performance. The crux of the challenge could be unraveled by developing new learning modalities that nurture both the “knowledge-ability” and “social-ability” of people working in critical transformative design environment.

Definition. According to Paul Oord and Cecile Crutzen, “ ‘Knowledge-ability’ is defined as the power to learn to create new solutions, and situated competent behavior that become thriving forces in economies; and socially-abled persons are described as those ‘with up-to-date domain expertise, who are proficient communicators, creative problem solvers and above all flexible team workers.’ “

Knowledge-ability. The development of a person’s “knowledge-ability” is achieved not by mere knowledge transmittal using traditional and structured means. A knowledgeable person is not necessarily a ‘knowledge-abled person’. 

The transfer of knowledge is only one of the phases in the process of education or formation. Filling the mind-buckets of students is simply the first step. The next step is even more important: to train our beneficiaries on what to do with the ‘water’ educators transferred to their buckets.

A clear-cut example: a robot is knowledgeable but it has no “knowledge-ability”.

Competency cannot be achieved by just being knowledgeable.

Social-ability. People with “social-ability” who possess up-to-date domain expertise can be proficient communicators and creative problem solvers because of their immersion in the authentic setting of future professional practice. Through interaction and feedback, they become co-developers - forming new modalities to improve competencies. In short, this is an experiential way of improving competencies.

Thriving In A Critical Transformative Design Environment. First, what is a critical transformative design environment? It is the place where a person is expected to produce specific and time-bound results. Competency is first and foremost, assessed by measurable outcomes. Such an environment is critical because the assessment is based on agreed and assigned objectives. But then, such critically designed environments are also transformative since results lead to the evolution of the person and organization.

However, the outcomes are as relevant as the manner by which it is delivered in the context of human and professional relationships. Organizational development aspects such as leadership, communication, and even corporate values, likewise affect the general outcomes and conditions of professional working places. Thus, the “social-ability” quotient of individuals and organizations are equally important.

Synergizing Knowledge-ability & Social-ability. Paul Oord and Cecile Crutzen propose these developmental actions to create new modalities for acquiring new competencies:

• The change of Routine Acting: Design
• Competence-Based Education (CBE) and Critical Thinking
• Development of E-environment for Competence based Teamwork
• Internal knowledge management (KM)
• Storytelling

As technologies evolve in the 21st Century, educational approaches and human resource training  should also evolve. This is necessary in order to fulfill new standards of competencies in organizations. We can start by appreciating knowledge-ability and social-ability as described by Paul Ooord and Cecile Crutzen in Storytelling as a Link Between Formal Knowledge and Actual Performance in a Critical Transformative Design Environment.

My interest in Story-Based eLearning Design lead me to conclude that interactive stories are valuable agents in transferring knowledge into applications. As author of the blog above-mentioned, knowledge- ability and social- ability must be transformed into applications.

Interactive stories turn meaning and actions into ideas and content. Without interactive stories, most content will remain only as fact or stagnant information, unable to succeed in becoming dynamic applications.

See my blog my related blog:
# 1 - Deepening Social Learning to Work Performance - Proposed Model

Learn more about Story-based eLearning Design. Check out the workshop.

Reference
Crutzen, C. and Ooord, P. (NA). Storytelling as a Link between Formal Knowledge and Actual Performance in a Critical Transformative Design Environment.



Ray Jimenez, PhD
Vignettes Learning
"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"