VIEW FROM
THE CHAIR
I t’s been said that the half-life of the content of the final year of a technical
first degree is about two and a half years. The basics you learn in the earlier
years will be valid for a long time, but in the final year a student is
surprisingly close to learning the latest understanding from recent research
and practice.
In the early years of a career, designers will most probably work on a rather
narrow range of tasks, as they learn to apply, in a pragmatic environment, the
understanding gained during their degrees. As they advance, they will move on
to other activities and have to apply other knowledge. Can they rely on the
memory of their degree learning or should they check for the latest
developments? The problem with the half-life situation is you don’t know which
half. It pays to check. Design work is always about something novel, otherwise
you are just copying something that has been
done before. Design is an opportunity to learn,
even if that only amounts to what is a better
understanding of a familiar subject. Meeting with
cross-disciplinary teams exposes you to new
information. Finding out more about customer
requirements, technical details, new materials or
production methods is a learning experience.
That’s what Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) is all about – keeping yourself up to date
and extending your ability to tackle new things.
Most CPD comes from appreciating the
CPD – why it
matters so much
learning experiences you have every day. If you hear a scrap of something new,
ask those questions or search the internet to find out more. You never know
when some piece of information will be useful. You never stop learning. Most
professionals, particularly in design, can meet their professional obligations just
by realising what they are learning by carrying out their work.
If a course is available in some topic you are going to need to know about,
then do it, but most CPD does not depend on formal learning. All you need to do
is keep a record of it.
A training course provider I knew told me that employers would ask him,
“What if I train my staff and they leave?” He would reply, “What if you don’t train
them and they stay?” Most of us are on the other side of that conversation. If
we don’t learn things, our usefulness will gradually diminish. CPD is worth doing,
even if it’s only asking yourself what you have learned from a new experience.
“Keep up to date or become out of date” has been said many times.
The IED, along with most other professional bodies, runs checks on the CPD
activities of its members. It’s one of the ways we make sure standards are
being maintained. If you are asked for your CPD records, you can make it easy
More details on the how and why of CPD can be found on page 22.
Get Involved
by having a record.
If you would like to contribute to any discussions, write to:
Colin Ledsome
BEng MEng CEng FIMechE FIED MCMI FBIS MDS, Chair, at:
The Institution of Engineering Designers,
Courtleigh, Westbury Leigh, Westbury, Wiltshire BA13 3TA.
Or email: chair@ied.org.uk
4 www.ied.org.uk
Chair of the IED Colin Ledsome focuses on Continuing
Professional Development and the learning experiences
that it can bring to any career
/www.ied.org.uk
link