Facilitating Competence: Guiding Skill Development Through the DACUM Approach

In a world where training often emphasizes what people know rather than what they can do, Facilitating Competence reframes instruction around performance, purpose, and results.
Rooted in the original DACUM (Develop A Curriculum) system pioneered by Robert E. Adams, this book provides a comprehensive guide to structuring, facilitating, and evaluating learning that mirrors authentic workplace performance.
Drawing from decades of field implementation and instructional design experience, the authors present DACUM not as a theoretical model, but as a living system of facilitation—connecting occupational analysis, program development, learning activity design, and evaluation into one coherent process. Each chapter walks readers through the facilitator’s role in guiding performance, from creating the learning environment and observing skill practice to managing resources, technology, and professional growth.
Readers will learn how to:

• Translate occupational analyses into clear, structured learning programs.
• Facilitate skill development through observation, reflection, and feedback.
• Evaluate resources and performance using evidence-based, performance-focused criteria.
• Maintain alignment between training and real workplace competence.
• Develop their own professional identity as facilitators of competence.

Whether used as a professional reference, a faculty guide, or a foundation text for workforce development programs, Facilitating Competence offers a complete and practical roadmap for instructors, coordinators, and industry trainers seeking to elevate performance-based learning.
This is more than a book about teaching—it is a guide to transforming learning into authentic, measurable competence.