With the 2021/22 CPD year now over, Mark Skinner, Head of Business and Management Department, reviews the trends in CPD activity amongst the Membership.
Now the 2021/22 CPD Year has concluded, I have had the chance to take a closer look at Members’ CPD journals to help me better understand your CPD preferences and your development priorities to help shape our future offer. Hopefully, the insight I share in this article will give you the chance to see the varied CPD opportunities that are available to you and also enable you to find out what fellow Members are doing to develop themselves.
This year saw an increase in the number of Members engaging in PGA Learn and the updated CPD system that came into effect in 2020. The number of Members accessing PGA Learn has grown by close to 20% in the last year and more Members submitted a CPD record than last year too. In total, nearly 15,000 CPD journal entries were made in 2021/22 and well over 1,100 Members have downloaded the PGA Learn App.
One particular aspect I was keen to review was the requirement to reflect on each completed CPD activity we add to our journals. This was introduced with the aim of getting us to:
- Be more active and conscious in the process of our development, and,
- Change our approach to CPD from being mainly ‘input focused’ (i.e. accumulating lots of CPD hours) to ‘outputs focused’ (i.e.. thinking about what we would like to get out of our CPD activity and what we learnt as a result of doing it).
On the whole, it was satisfying to see the number of Members engaging in this element of the process and writing some thoughtful and detailed reflections, which will hopefully help them in their future practice and development.
With regards to CPD activity, looking at Members’ journal entries, it was clear self-directed learning was the overwhelming preferred form of learning. This type of learning accounted for over 66% of all CPD entries. This is understandable considering how convenient it is compared to other forms of learning that may require us to spend time away from our places of work.
Having spoken to other Member Associations, this seems to be a common trend, however, there is concern that if it continues it will be to the detriment of other forms of quality structured learning, such as attending one-day courses or workshops that have clear learning outcomes and learning programmes. Unfortunately, we can only run these types of events if there is sufficient uptake, so please consider these forms of learning too and aim for a balance of learning activities throughout the year. Of course, as this article proves, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to CPD, however, a blended approach to learning that incorporates a full range of different types of CPD has been found to increase the chances of knowledge retention and engagement.
The Most Popular Types of Learning
It is no surprise that the most popular types of learning recorded were self-directed learning activities, such as watching videos, listening to podcasts, or watching webinars, however, seeing the diversity of learning opportunities being recorded in journals was interesting. In total, over 50 different types of activities were added to Members’ records, from work shadowing to networking and job rotation.
It was also great to find Members recording CPD activity that not only helps them to develop but also could be perceived as giving back to the Association or helping other Members, such as organising CPD events, supporting a Trainee with their studies and forming special interest groups.
All of this demonstrates the wide variety of opportunities that you could potentially learn from that can be added to the CPD journals, and also justifies the decision to change the CPD system to recognise these forms of learning.
|
Activity Type
|
Percentage of Items added to CPD Journals
|
|
Watching a Video
|
16%
|
|
Listening to a Podcast
|
13%
|
|
Watching a webinar
|
11%
|
|
Online Learning Course (non-assessment)
|
10%
|
|
Reading journal/article/book
|
10%
|
|
Online Learning Course (with assessment)
|
6%
|
|
Qualification (with Assessment)
|
3%
|
|
Attendance at a Training Course
|
3%
|
|
Sitting on a county, regional or national committee or board
|
2%
|
|
Attending Product Training
|
2%
|
Top five most viewed content added on PGA Learn in 2021/22
Looking more closely at content consumed on PGA Learn, the most common content items that featured in Members’ CPD journals were the webinars produced by the lecturing team at the PGA National Training Academy. These webinars were mostly coaching and sports science focused and were originally recorded as part of the PGA Training Programme to support Trainees with their studies during the pandemic. Again, this is expected as these were easy to consume either via the PGA Learn portal or the App and were focused on a part of a high proportion of Members’ roles.
|
Rank
|
Title
|
Format
|
|
1
|
From The Training Academy: Pre-Swing Principles
|
Webinar
|
|
2
|
From The Training Academy: Ball Flight Characteristics & Impact Factors
|
Webinar
|
|
3
|
From The Training Academy: Part 1 - Terminology and Adaptations
|
Webinar
|
|
4
|
Putt Your Best with John Graham
|
Podcast
|
|
5
|
Make Your Next Shot Your Best Shot with Dr Bob Rotella
|
Podcast
|
There were also many CPD activities that aren’t hosted on PGA Learn that were added by Members to their journals too. Some of the more common activities were:
- AimPoint Certified Instructor Program
- BodiTrak - Golf Ground Mechanics Certifications
- CAPTO E-Learning Certification
- Trackman Certified Level 1
- TGI Business Conference
If you haven’t yet been on PGA Learn or engaged in CPD for some time, now is the perfect opportunity to look forward and identify opportunities to learn something new, refresh your existing knowledge, improve your skills, and keep up-to-date with the latest developments within your profession. Hopefully, this article has given you a few ideas of the many CPD opportunities that are available to you that your fellow Members are already taking advantage of. For those that are engaged, hopefully it has given you a few ideas to create a better balance to your CPD activity.
In the new year, we’ll take a closer look at some of the CPD activities individual Members have undertaken in 2021/22 and learn why they did it, how they went about it, and what they gained from it.
