Competencies

Competencies

OVERVIEW

Competencies describe the level of understanding or proficiency of a learner in certain subject-related skills. Competency-based education (CBE), also known as Competency-based learning or Skills-based learning, refers to systems of assessment and grading where students demonstrate these competencies.

You can create and manage frameworks in your Pluto LMS for evaluating students against competencies that you have defined and apply these frameworks across courses.
USE CASE EXAMPLE:

Competencies in a Learning Management System (LMS) can play a crucial role in assessing and developing the skills and knowledge of internal staff. Here's an example use case:

Performance Evaluation and Career Development

Consider a medium-sized company aiming to foster employee growth and development within its various departments. The company has implemented a comprehensive LMS that includes a competency framework aligned with the organization's strategic goals and individual career paths.

In this scenario, competencies are used in the following ways:
  1. Skill Assessment and Gap Analysis
  2. Personalized Learning Paths
  1. Performance Evaluation and Feedback
  2. Career Development Planning
  3. Succession Planning and Talent Management
By leveraging competencies within the LMS, the company can ensure that employee development initiatives are closely aligned with organizational objectives, leading to improved performance, increased employee satisfaction, and a more skilled workforce overall.
CREATE COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS
Step 1: Click on "Site admin", followed by "Course management", then "Competency frameworks."





Step 2: Click on "Add new competency framework."



Step 3: Give your competency framework (1) a name, (2) an optional description and (3) a specific ID number. Then (4) select the default scale that will be used when rating a competency and (5) click on "Configure scales" to configure your default scale.



Step 4: Configure scales.

(1) In the "Default" column; select the value that will be displayed when a competency is automatically met upon activity completion. 
(2) In the "Proficient" column, select the values that will be available to a teacher when they rate a competency manually. 



Step 5: Decide whether or not to hide your competency framework until you're ready to apply it. 



Step 6: From the drop-down lists under "Taxonomies", you can optionally define the words used to describe competencies in the framework - depending on their level within the competency hierarchy. 



Scroll down and click "Save changes."



Once you have created a competency framework, it will appear in your list of frameworks and you can add competencies to it. 


ADD COMPETENCIES TO A FRAMEWORK

Step 1: On the "Competency frameworks" page, click on the relevant competency framework then select your competency and click "Add competency."





Step 2: Select (1) a parent category for your competency, give it (2) a name, (3) an optional description and (4) a specific ID number. Then (5) select the default scale that will be used when rating the competency (and configure that scale if different from the framework scale). Finally, click on "Save changes."



Note: You create a competency framework by adding competencies in different levels so that the highest level competency is that competency toward which all other levels contribute. The highest level competency should have "no-parent". The highest level competency is then selected as the "parent" of the competency directly below it, and so on, until you reach the lowest level competency. From the bottom up, the competencies then build on each other to achieve the overarching goal. 

Example: A competency framework for "Knowledge" in which the "Reproduce" precedes the "Apply" competency, which precedes the "Assessment" competency. If all of these are met, the "Knowledge" competency is met. 



ADD A LEARNING PLAN TEMPLATE

Once a competency framework has been created, you can set up a learning plan template to define a set of competencies which you can then assign to individual students of whole user segments. 

Step 1: Click on "Site admin", followed by "Course management", then "Learning plan templates."





Step 2: Click on "Add new learning plan template."



Step 3: Give you learning plan template a (1) name and (2) optional description, (3) decide whether or not to hide your template until you're ready to assign it, and (4) optionally enable a due date by which the learning plan must be completed. 



Once you're ready, click on "Save changes."

Step 4: You can now click on "Add competencies to learning plan template" to open the competency picker (here, you will find your previously created competency frameworks and competencies).



Step 5: Select the (1) competency framework and (2) specific competencies from that framework that you wish to add to the learning plan template. 

Tip: To select multiple competencies at once, hold the "shift" key while selecting. 



Once you're ready, click on "Add."

Step 6: You can now order the competencies in a way that will show users the correct hierarchy. 



These competencies can now be linked to specific courses and activities.

Competencies can be linked and rated at a course and activity level. 

A. LINKING COMPETENCIES AT COURSE LEVEL 

Step 1: In the relevant course, click on "Competencies" and then "Add competencies to course" to open the competency picker.



Step 2: Select the (1) competency framework and (2) specific competencies from that framework that you wish to add to the course. 



These competencies have now been added to your course.



Step 3: For each of the course competencies, you can now select how the competency should be rated once a user completes the course.



Do nothing - competency will not be rated.
Send for review - manual review by teacher.
Complete competency - automatic completion.
Attach evidence - the completed course will display as evidence at the bottom of the relevant competency on the user's learning plan.
Once you have set up your course competencies, you can also link them to specific course activities. 

B. LINKING COMPETENCIES AT ACTIVITY LEVEL

Step 1: In the relevant activity, click on the gear icon (  ) and then "Edit settings."
Note: You can also link competencies to a new activity when defining the activity settings.



Step 2: In the "Competencies" section, in the "Course competencies" drop-down list, you will see the competencies you have added to this course. You can now select the competency/ies you wish to link to this activity. 



Step 3: From the "Upon activity completion" drop-down list, you can select how the competency will be rated once a user has completed this activity. 



Once you're happy, click on "Save and return to course". You can link all your course competencies to relevant activities in your course.

ASSIGN LEARNING PLANS TO USERS

Once you have set up course and/or activity competencies, you can assign learning plans to A. individual users or B. whole user segments of users.

A. ASSIGN LEARNING PLANS TO INDIVIDUAL USERS

Step 1: On the "Learning plan templates" page, next to the relevant template, click on "Edit" and then "Create learning plan."



Step 2: From the drop-down list, select the users to whom you wish to assign the learning plan. Then click on "Create learning plans."





The students to whom this learning plan has been assigned will now be displayed on this page. 

B. ASSIGN LEARNING PLANS TO USER SEGEMENTS

Step 1: On the "Learning plan templates" page, next to the relevant template, click on "Edit" and then "Add user segments to sync."



Step 2: From the drop-down list, select the user segment to which you wish to assign the learning plan. Then click on "Create learning plans."





The user segment/s to which this learning plan has been assigned will now be displayed on this page and the learning plan will be assigned to all users in that user segment. 

Removing learning plans from users:
If you have assigned your learning plans to an entire user segment, it is important to note that simply removing the user segment will not remove the learning plan from those users. You are able to remove the plans individually (via users' profiles) or delete the entire learning plan which will remove the plan for all users.

The learning plan/s assigned to a user will reflect on their user profile, in the "Competency plans" tab.



You can click on the learning plan to view the user's progress.


Cohort = User Segment