I work in the state of Pennsylvania in the mental health field. Our regulators are starting to require competency based testing. I was hoping someone out there could give me some ideas on what you may be doing for Competency Based Evaluation. Currently we have an LMS that allows us to ask T/F and Multiple Choice (we are looking into a new system) but are they any other ways that you would suggest to test/evaluate the competency level of staff after a training?
A few years ago ULCC nada competency evaluation tool that plugged into noodle, it allowed you to assess yourself and then be assessed by your assessor as well as put evidence against each one, not sure if it is still around but it worked great
I think it depends on the type of training. For example if you are training people to understand a new policy, then a post-course test may produce a valid assessment as to whether the training has succeed.
However, if you wish to evaluate competency level of staff who have been trained in soft skills, such as presentations, time management, interpersonal skills and so on, it's much more challenging. Performance of individuals during a course, and any end-course tests are interesting, but not reliable indicators, as the key aspect of success is whether skills are successfully put into practice in the workplace.
This latter point is often stressed by L&D people but seldom measured. There are some products out there that offer this functionality but they're often too complex and involved for people in busy workplaces to keep up with. There is the key dilemma that workplace managers are critical to this process but frequently too stressed, not motivated or skilled enough to handle it.
I'm working on a (at least part-) solution to this problem with some clients and I plan to brief the Forum about it in a month or so, but would be happy to talk you through it and demo what's there so far.
At my firm we test the competency of our crane operators. There is a thorough checklist that they must pass to be able to operate a crane. They have to get certified on each brand/type/size/configuration of crane they wish to operate, and there are different levels of competency. The completed form is added to the person's file and recorded in the LMS.
4 Replies
A few years ago ULCC nada competency evaluation tool that plugged into noodle, it allowed you to assess yourself and then be assessed by your assessor as well as put evidence against each one, not sure if it is still around but it worked great
I think it depends on the type of training. For example if you are training people to understand a new policy, then a post-course test may produce a valid assessment as to whether the training has succeed.
However, if you wish to evaluate competency level of staff who have been trained in soft skills, such as presentations, time management, interpersonal skills and so on, it's much more challenging. Performance of individuals during a course, and any end-course tests are interesting, but not reliable indicators, as the key aspect of success is whether skills are successfully put into practice in the workplace.
This latter point is often stressed by L&D people but seldom measured. There are some products out there that offer this functionality but they're often too complex and involved for people in busy workplaces to keep up with. There is the key dilemma that workplace managers are critical to this process but frequently too stressed, not motivated or skilled enough to handle it.
I'm working on a (at least part-) solution to this problem with some clients and I plan to brief the Forum about it in a month or so, but would be happy to talk you through it and demo what's there so far.
At my firm we test the competency of our crane operators. There is a thorough checklist that they must pass to be able to operate a crane. They have to get certified on each brand/type/size/configuration of crane they wish to operate, and there are different levels of competency. The completed form is added to the person's file and recorded in the LMS.
John Faulkes, I would be interested to see what you came up with. Have you published this elsewhere?
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.