Professional Pathways in Informal STEM Learning

From writing exhibit content to writing annual reports, leading tours to leading an organization, and studying budgets to studying visitor experiences, ISL work calls for specific skills and knowledge and the ability to use your skills and knowledge in a variety of contexts. This is often referred to as a competency, or competencies. Pathways was created by and for professionals who are doing this important and challenging work in informal learning organizations with a STEM mission or cultural organizations with occasional STEM programs. While individual jobs and organizations are unique, professionals from a range of science centers and other STEM organizations identified common areas of skills, knowledge, and abilities. Pathways describes and organizes those competencies using language provided by ISL professionals.

Learn more about competencies and other Pathways language on the Key Terms page.

Whether you’re reflecting on your own competencies, leading an ISL organization, or supporting students and other ISL professionals, Pathways can meet a wide range of professional development needs.

• Perhaps your education or experiences have led you to a point where you want a better sense of what you know and don’t know. 
• Maybe you’re wondering how to take the next step in your career, or you are in a leadership position and want to help your staff take the next step. 
• Perhaps you work in an ISL organization, but you don’t know if you consider yourself an ISL professional.

Pathways is for you, and for other individuals, organizations, academic programs, and professional associations that want to better understand and develop the competencies associated with successful ISL practices.

• Individuals can use Pathways to assess their current competencies and identify those they want to develop.
• Organizations can use Pathways to shape staff professional development, staffing plans, and job descriptions.
• Academic programs can use Pathways to review curricula, support student learning, shape internships, and guide students as they pursue career opportunities.
• Professional associations and networks can use Pathways to organize professional development activities or initiatives like workshops and conference sessions.

For support specific to each of these roles and settings, explore the Who Is This For? page.