Outputs v Inputs

There is a growing recognition that e-portfolios provide a great way to capture evidence of the impact of professional development on practice. Many regulatory and professional bodies recognise that counting hours engaged in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) activity on its own means nothing. What matters is the impact of this activity on the development on professional practice.

Such a view would appear to be self evident yet there are those that still cling solely on to counting hours as the key measure for assessing professional practice. It maybe because they are tied into existing and often cumbersome Learning Management Systems (LMS) that are designed to count and 'control' inputs; however there is increasing evidence that counting on it's own is no longer sufficient for regulators and professionals.

The Institute of Continuing Professional Development, in its commissioned research project Regulating Competencies: Is CPD working? found that, although many professions use a combination of both the input and output systems, they are increasingly turning to the more effective output systems.