So exactly whose comfort zones am I talking about? Maybe I would be better to start at the beginning with my own.
I am the internal verifier (IV) for MutualiLearn and recently verified the Group Leader marks for the modules of MutualiLearn that were undertaken by front line teams of a large UK police force. MutualiLearn is MutualGain’s online learning platform that has a range of modules that help people learn how to build social capital through community engagement.
The various modules offered through MutualiLearn help front line officers and PCSO’s to understand and develop social capital, promote active citizenship with a view to changing social norms and behaviours. The various modules allow learners to use strengths based techniques , enabling them to have meaningful conversations with communities and listen to what residents need from police and partners. The conversations are enablers for communities, helping them to develop their own solutions through active citizenship and connectivity with each other.
So back to comfort zones – what does internal verification involve? MutualGain and their partners at their awarding body, the Open College Network (OCN) (London) set high standards in terms of assessment. After marking, the marker’s work is validated through an internal verification process (that’s me) and this is followed by an external verification process undertaken by the OCN.
Verifying my colleague’s work!! No pressure there then as I know the three markers on the programme very well. I had to remember the mantra from my IV training from OCN that feedback is a gift. I also had to bear in mind the fact that the verification process is important not only for the learners, but also to the communities that they are working with.
To be fair all the work that I verified had been thoroughly checked by my three colleagues, who have over a 100 years of policing between them (you wouldn’t know by looking at them), and are involved in delivering education programmes at various levels, including further education and higher education. They have also been delivering the inputs of MutualiLearn/MutualGain in the classroom format to many clients, so I know how they worked. The fact that I have also delivered some of this work alongside them was really useful too. I know how they think and how they encourage the best from their students.
So, to step outside my comfort zone of delivering the content to verifying the online MutualiLearn modules and marking by my colleagues was not necessarily something that I would normally be comfortable with. I had to remind myself that my aims were to do a thorough, fair job but also to be in a position to look at any inconsistencies or areas of development and feed any issues back in a constructive and positive way.
So what did I learn?
One of the key things for me was the realisation of how difficult it can be for some students to sometimes connect the concept of social capital to their everyday role of engaging communities. The majority demonstrated their learning and passed the written tasks first time. Those who were asked to correct and resubmit answers that had failed to meet the assessment criteria were given comprehensive feedback enabling them to have that lightbulb moment. Their resubmissions demonstrated the fact that they actually looked at the task with total freshness and enthusiasm and a new way of working. This can be a movement from their own comfort zone that is so very often explained in earnest to us as, “this is just the way that we do things around here”.
Looking at the work submitted by the students that I was verifying, it was clear that after undertaking the MutualiLearn modules, some would be working differently in the future. Maybe the paradigm shift had been made.
I also saw how the MutualiLearn team worked together to deliver consistency to their feedback and approach. Every submission that failed to meet the assessment criteria was second and sometimes third marked to ensure fairness and reduce any possible bias. Overall, I was impressed with the answers, the feedback given, and the learning process undertaken by learners and Group Leaders. Testament to this is the fact that the previous submission of the work of over 100 learners passed the external verification process without issue. I hope that the same is true of the group I have just assessed.
But here is the question; if great things never come from comfort zones in our professional practice, how do we ensure we work at always stretching ourselves out of our comfort zones to deliver our best? I have just been through this process and I believe that I am all the better for it!
Written by Debby Mackay Msc
August 2019