IPA Research Portal |
IBSTPI Standards: http://www.ibspi.org
NWCET Standards: http://www.nwcet.org
Association of Education and Computer Technology (AECT): http://www.aect.org
American Society of Training and Development: http://www.astd.org
International Society of Performance Improvement: http://www.ispi.org
The Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) research site serves as an ongoing research effort to develop and validate the IPA methodology. The purpose of the entire IPA Research Plan is to provide a measurement method to assist professionals and organizations with measuring performance against known industry defined competency standards to help guide educational programming, selection, placement, career planning, and professional development.
Today’s instructional technology (IT) professionals are experiencing pressures and demands in the field as organizations expect them to continually adapt to global competition, fluctuations in a global world market, and technological innovations all while acquiring new competencies in a rapidly changing industry (Curtis, Hefley, & Miller, 2002; Lui et al., 2002; Lui, Jones, & Hempstreet, 1998).
IT professionals “have a responsibility to keep their skills current” (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004, p. 386). Updating and improving their knowledge, skills, and abilities is an important and essential competency (Richey et al., 2001). Learning to adapt to extant and emerging business and technological trends is also an important technical leadership characteristic. Therefore. a valid, reliable, and objective assessment method is the only way to ensure that these professionals will continue to adapt to emerging industry trends thus making it possible to measure a person’s professional competencies.
In 1986 the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI) sought to develop and validate a set of competency standards to meet the needs of instructional design professionals in the instructional technology (IT) field.
In 1990, Atchison conducted a qualitative study to identify the competencies of expert IDs. Atchison’s study helped to further classify, expand, and better define the 1986 IBSTPI standards (Atchison, 1990).