The Professional Debate

Activity 5.2 encourages us to consider definitions of profession, e-learning, and e-learning professional. I've been trying to get my head around this whole subject, and why it is worth this consideration, and here are some random thoughts.

So just what is a profession? The obvious examples of a profession would be a doctor or a lawyer; probably amongst the longest established professions that exist today. What is characteristic of the status of being a doctor or a lawyer is that you are privvy to knowledge and expertise that has been developed through learning from masters and that this learning is not easily gained. Time, commitment and often sacrifice have been devoted to earning the right to be described as a doctor or a lawyer.

Warrior, in her article, refers to the struggle that has been going on in teaching to establish itself as a respected profession. Progressively over the 20th century, job roles which demand a level of knowledge and expertise that requires commitment and particular expertise have sought to have that status acknowledged. Professional Institutes of all kinds are emerging; IMechE, Institute of Marketing, Institute of Personnel and Development..... and so on. Membership of reputable Professional Institutes is a guarantee of quality: such institutes are therefore concerned with allowing only suitably qualified individuals to join, and to providing members with the wherewithall to keep their professional skillls honed and practiced. As new technology has come onto the scene, IT Professionals have followed the Institutional path; an example of such an institute is the ICCP.

So, the burning question I think we are being challenged to consider is - does a e-learning as a profession deserve a separate professional category? Or do we find ourselves at a point in time when learning professionals have yet to integrate the use of the electronic medium into their normal practice?

Take another professional category - the Purchasing Professional. Anyone wishing to operate in that field today must be familiar with IT systems that enable Supply Chain Management and Enterprise Resource Planning. An awareness of how to use such systems effectively and to incorporate their features and benefits into the Purchasing Function is essential. Is the status of IT in learning any different to that? Is the inherent nature of learning as a profession different to other professions that are incorporating electronic media into their modus operandi?

I wonder what anyone else thinks about this?