July 2007 Volume 10 Number 3 - Educational Technology & Society

Figure 2. From generic skill to learning scenario definition
Data on these elements was collected during group sessions with the expert committee, and individual face-to-face
sessions with some of its members. Questionnaires were filed in by all members. The consultation of different
content documents used in the program served to enrich the information. Systematically, the analysis of obtained
data led to a document synthesizing a competency profile, which was validated by the Committee and which brought
new elements to advance the work and complete the models. The iterative revision of the different versions of the
competency profile led to a list of 35 main knowledge elements with their associated target competencies.
Table 1 presents a sample of some of these competencies. Each competency is expressed by a statement specifying
the generic skill (in bold italic) that the novice lawyer has to apply to a knowledge element (in italic) according to
particular performance conditions expressed in the rest of the competency statement.
Competencies were grouped in five domains based on the knowledge model: A — law concepts, regulations, and
standards of the profession; B — communication with the client; C — establishment of a diagnosis; D —
elaboration, assessment, and application of a solution; E — management of case data and quality control. The four
last categories show that the knowledge model was mainly procedural, describing the main element of law practice
as a sound decision for a professional program. The committee attributed a priority to each of the competencies
shown in the priority column of table 1.
To plan the new program, it was important to identify, for every competency, the distance between the prerequisite
competency that the students should possess before entering the program and the target competency to be acquired
by the end of the program. The levels of the target generic skill were first identified by the expert committee, and
entry levels were set in the second phase by trainers in the program. The difference between the two is the gap shown
in the last column of table 1.
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