4 Your Development
Professional development ideas from Learning 4 Learning Professionals
November 2013
IN THIS ISSUE:
Framing the Big Picture
One of the things that sets experts apart from other professionals is their ability to grasp a situation’s
complexity and see it more clearly than their less experienced peers. The magic behind that ability is
embedded in the frameworks and schema that experts have integrated into their way of thinking.
The more we can identify and apply these kinds of models within our practice, the more we are able to
claim and be recognized as experts, so it’s incumbent upon us to be constantly on the lookout for them.
In this issue of 4 Your Development, we’ll explore what a framework is and how it might be useful to you,
and look at ways to build your own set of frameworks to sharpen your expertise.
Framework: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a
way of viewing reality. (The free dictionary)
Schema: a diagrammatic presentation; a structured framework or plan; a mental
codification of experience that includes a particular organized way of perceiving
cognitively and responding to a complex situation or set of stimuli (Merriam Webster)
What makes a framework useful…
In a typical project, frameworks play multiple roles. They may suggest a list of assessment questions to
help you to get a clearer and more detailed picture of the situation. They may provide a structure for your
analysis of a situation, helping you to categorize and diagnose. Frameworks can also be useful in
organizing data and recommendations to clients, helping them to see their situations in new ways, and to
better understand the complexity of the situation they are facing. And, as noted previously, frameworks
can be a guide for action, suggesting specific behaviors or activities for moving forward.
The following chart identifies a number of useful types of frameworks, along with some examples I’ve
found valuable. (I would love to hear about your favorites! E-mail me at clombardozzi@L4LP.com.)
Type
Description
Examples
Contributing
factors
Explains the behaviors, factors, or
characteristics that contribute to a specific
outcome. (Direct cause and effect models
are hard to find in our field, where there
are many variables.)
What makes ideas stick – from Made to Stick by
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Process
Outlines the steps you need to take to get
to a defined outcome.
Successive Approximation (SAM) – from Michael
Allen (See book: Leaving ADDIE for SAM)
Appreciative Inquiry: See overviews at Mind Tools
and Center for Appreciative Inquiry
Categorization
or typology
Lays out an organizational scheme that
groups things with similar qualities (may
be presented as a matrix structure or
columns). It’s just as important to understand what those types imply, which isn’t
usually shown in the charts.
Components of a Learning Environment – from
Catherine Lombardozzi / Learning Environment
Design
New ways of learning from Jane Hart in
The Workplace Learning Revolution
Quality criteria
Provides a list of qualities or characterizations that constitute the good, effective,
high quality.
Testing Your E-learning Strategy by Marc Rosenberg
Pillars of Quality in Asynchronous Learning Networks
(pdf) by Janet C. Moore, The Sloan Consortium
Decision trees
Theoretical
relationships
Offers a series of questions that determine
recommended next steps or factors that
lead to specific choices.
Describes or illustrates theoretical
concepts and relationships.
© Catherine Lombardozzi, Ed.D. Page 1 of 2
Check the free resources (registration required)
Features of gamification – from Karl Kapp
(See book: The Gamification of Learning and Instruction)
When to use different types of assessments in
Designing Assessments by Kineo
Decision Trees for Selecting an eLearning Strategy
by Cyrelle Gerson
Intentional Change Theory by Richard Boyatzis
Connectivism by George Seimens
4 Your Development
is authored by Catherine Lombardozzi.
Contact me at 302-994-0451
or clombardozzi@L4LP.com
Subscribe at www.L4LP.com
Blog: www.learningjournal.wordpress.com
On Twitter @L4LP
PO Box 6431, Wilmington, DE 19804
4 Your Development
Professional development ideas from Learning 4 Learning Professionals
Finding frameworks to suit your work…
Frameworks can be found in the theory and research base
of our field, which is constantly expanding. By making a
habit of regularly reviewing key academic journals, you’ll
stay informed about emerging frameworks for our work.
(See SMART Practice resources for suggestions.)
In addition, you might look for books and other resources
authored by experienced practitioners who are generous
enough to share their approaches and insights. These
frameworks are more credible when they are backed up by
theory and research, but emerging ideas that have tested
well in one organization may be worth looking into as well.
Consulting organizations and membership-based research
consortia often provide exceptionally useful guidance.
We all have our own theories about how things work as well, based on our experiences in the field and
what we’ve noticed about what works and doesn’t work. These are worth documenting for future
reference and continuous enrichment.
Building your own frameworks…
Here’s some advice about how to build your own frameworks and thereby increase your expertise:
Collect models. As you read interesting articles and books, make a habit of capturing for yourself the
models that are applicable to your work. The act of taking notes in itself will help to solidify the models in
your mind. Many authors do half the work for you by providing graphics and tables that summarize key
ideas. Be sure to take additional notes about details, and keep a copy of or a link to the source material for
later reference.
Customize and synthesize ideas from multiple sources. When you have opportunity to consult multiple
sources to inform your decision-making and approaches, take the time to synthesize ideas into a
framework that can guide your action. While you pick and choose ideas from different sources, check
yourself to ensure the framework you are crafting has integrity. As you customize, make sure that you’re
not leaving out the most important aspects of the source frameworks.
Make your personal theories explicit. Much of how we understand the world is based on our own
experiences and the lessons we take away from them. Take the time to document your own guiding
principles and conceptual frameworks – your “theories in use.” By documenting your theories, you’ll be
able to be more thoughtful in applying them, and you’ll be ready to continuously update them as your
understanding grows. Putting your theories on paper and critiquing them may also help you to see if your
thinking is incomplete or invalid.
Review the foundation of your favorite frameworks. Even after you’ve documented key ideas into
reference charts and diagrams that you can use in practice, it is helpful to occasionally go back and review
the original sources. Every time you revisit the foundational materials, you take away new insights. You’ll
learn nuances that help you to fine-tune your approach, and occasionally, you’ll realize you are
misinterpreting some aspect of the model.
Critically examine the assumptions. An important aspect of developing frameworks is to identify the
assumptions on which they rest – and explore whether those assumptions are accurate. Also check for the
prerequisites that make the framework effective; if foundational elements are not present in your
organization, the framework will likely not hold.
Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants,
so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any
sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried
high and raised up by their giant size.
From Metalalogicon by John of Salisbury 1159 CE
© Catherine Lombardozzi, Ed.D. Page 2 of 2
November 2013
For discussion…
Framing the Big Picture
Get together with your team or
with L&D colleagues and discuss
your frameworks…
 What are the frameworks you find


most useful in your work? Conduct
a “show and tell” that helps the
team enrich their collections.
What are some of your “theories in
use”? Work together to document
what works and doesn’t work in
your organization and practice area.
What areas of your practice could
benefit from having solid
frameworks? Collaborate to
research what’s out there that
might be useful to you.
If you would like me to lead a
discussion, webinar, or workshop on
this topic for your organization,
please contact me at
clombardozzi@L4LP.com.
Recommended sources
for frameworks…
I wish it were easy to find frameworks,
but they can be elusive, even when
you know what you’re looking for.
That’s why I recommend collecting
them as you find them; you never
know when they might prove useful.
Here are some fertile places for finding
good frameworks:
 HRD Review (Academy of HRD)
 Performance Improvement (ISPI)
 The Corporate Leadership Council’s
HR and Learning & Development
practices do some great work as
well (requires membership).
 I have collected a variety of SMART
Practice Resources on my blog.
Please contact me if you are stuck
trying to find a workable framework;
I may be able to point you in the right
direction.