How do you measure learner competency?

If the skill(s) being assessed are repeatedly demonstrated successfully, then you can confidently deem a learner as competent.

Although I keep in mind certain expectations, when measuring my students' competencies, I have to keep an open mind (especially as a language teacher) and remember that skills' assessment can be adapted. Learning a language can be quite personal, and the slightest action can disrupt my students' ability to express themselves. Although I expect my students to do the work, I also have to keep an open mind when assessing skills when necessary. Breaking your students' confidence most certainly won't help them on the long-run. I also give a detailed account of my assessment, pointing out errors and giving suggestions of how my students can improve. It's important to keep communication open in assessment.

Competencies refer to the skills, knowledge, abilities, and behaviors that individuals possess and demonstrate in order to perform effectively in a specific role or field. For example, in a leadership role, some key competencies might include effective communication, strategic thinking, decision-making etc.

People who seek resources automatically on their own and insist on understanding them fully will have the highest rate of competencies for any subject or product.

As a trainer, I believe that learning is a lifelong process, so I always emphasise participant engagement. We want to offer all participants an equal chance, and only then will we know if they are qualified or not. In addition, the practical session is a crucial aspect in determining the ability of the participants.

Self-assessment: Individuals can evaluate their own competencies by reflecting on their skills, knowledge, and behaviors relevant to a specific role or field. This can be done through self-reflection, reviewing job descriptions or competency frameworks, or using self-assessment tools or questionnaires. 2. Performance evaluations: Managers or supervisors can assess an individual's competencies through regular performance evaluations. This involves assessing how well the individual has demonstrated. 3. 360-degree feedback: This assessment method involves gathering feedback from multiple sources.

I currently work in the Automotive Manufacturing Industry - it is a fast paced, needed it yesterday kind of place! We run a lot of high volume assembly stations, and to help get a sense of a candidates functional abilities we are implementing "real job" scenario testing. We evaluate attention to detail by identifying different defects within a part - and motor skills by having our candidates actually perform an assembly with their hands. We still encourage a conversation throughout the interview, but with a role such as this it is more hands on than anything! If there is anyone out there who currently deals with high volume assembly, we are still looking for ways to improve our current structure.

I live by the quote of: "you truly know you have learned something when you are able to teach someone else." It's the art of passing knowledge along to know you have grasped it.

When training individuals on a skill I'm a big fan of creating a checklist so that they can ensure they understand each step of a process. Once you have run through the checklist and demonstrated each step, then it is the trainee's turn to lead and complete each step. Once they can lead and complete the checklist themselves, the next step is to have a consistent follow-up and retraining schedule as processes evolve. Finally, your quickest learners and most proficient executors should provide a solid bench to teach your next round of trainees.

I really value self-assessed competency. The vast majority of people are aware of the gaps they have in terms of knowledge and ability. Honest self reflection allows opportunities for growth, which the person is brought into from the very start.

I recently looked through a pathophysiology textbook for nurses. The book was physically and mentally heavy. The density and detail, in my opinion, will cause the purpose of the information to get lost. Consider the outcome we want learners to achieve. Those who become confident and competent will seek the minutiae later. In the beginning they need to see the target and understand the knowledge and skills needed to get there. CBT/CBL is all about creating that drive towards a reasonable goal. We teach with stories and challenges. We assess by listening and watching. Allowing learners the space and time to be curious and guiding them towards their own conclusions - that's such a brilliant approach.

From my experience, the key to CBT, is the mastery of competencies because learners are expected to demonstrate mastery of specific competencies or skills rather than just progressing through a set curriculum. This approach also allows for a personalized pace for individualized learning, where learners can progress at their own pace. Also, the learner will be able to benefit from the flexible learning pathways that CBT often offers in flexible learning pathways, enabling learners to choose from a variety of learning resources and methods that best suit their needs and learning styles. Finally, the real-world application of CBT is practical when knowledge and skills are transferable in a profession.

Pathophysiology is its own animal. Don't know it and you will struggle the rest of your nursing days. Understand it and you will be able to predict what will occur in specific patient situations. The key is how to cover it completely without going to deep. I taught concepts, for example: knowing about the immune system and how it works, in a level understandable. but not to the detail of knowing all the chemicals involved. If they know what should happen, what white cells should be there and how the body heals, then they will be able to assess a wound and determine if it is healing or not. I always found if you explain the sympathetic and para* systems to an understandable leve, they will get 90% of stressful situations. and medications.

One of the advantages of CBT for the trainer is the opportunity to use trainer creativity. For example; I was encourage to create a class on "Empathy". I created a board game to stimulate the learners. Using this method created a relaxed atmosphere and made it more effective in retaining what they learned.

One of the biggest issues with competencies is being able to articulate what good looks like, being able to measure where the learner is at the start and demonstrate progression by the learner. I once had a colleague who told me to 'go train' someone. When asked what they needed training on I was told, 'their attitude'. So I asked what did a good attitude look like and I was told 'not her'. A good attitude is too fluffy to be measurable. Creating a competancy that is based on focus, interactions with others, professionalism and backing those with key examples and measurables then we can work with that.

Key points to consider to measure learners competency are: 1. Pre & Post learning evaluation. 2. Value creation post learning. 3. Practical implementation in real world.

Very few people can go from starter to expert in one go. Blooms Taxonomy is a great way to assess where someone is in their skills and what the next stage looks like for them. Once you understand what good looks like for the next stage, agreeing SMART targets (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound) sets the expectation between you and the person as to how they should achieve this and by when. It's not fair on anyone to set them up to fail by making the target too hard, too far and too quick.