T3 Open Competencies Network

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T3N² Open Competency Framework Collab

OCF Collab Network Description

The talent ecosystem is vastly improved when skills and competencies (i.e., statements of knowledge, skills, dispositions, abilities and habits of mind or practice) are utilized and aligned for learning, communicating individual achievements, career pathways, and hiring. The OCFC Network is focused on solving three overarching challenges in the skills and competencies ecosystem: (1) existing skills and competencies are held captive in legacy encoding schemes (e.g., PDF, Microsoft Word, CSV (spreadsheets), etc.); (2) skills and competencies are neither accessible to people nor machine actionable; and (3) skills and competencies are not shared via open licenses.

The OCFC Network focuses on the organizational and technical infrastructure to improve the use of skills and competencies to power the talent ecosystem at scale. OCFC Network membership is open to individuals interested in participating with national and international efforts and infrastructure projects to improve the talent ecosystem through open, shared skills and competencies. This includes: advocates for open, shared data, and use of data standards; organizations that maintain sources of skills and competencies (e.g., libraries, registries, repositories-hereafter sources); and skill and competency data creators, users, or consumers.

The OCFC aims to make skills and competencies readily available to humans and machines by developing a membership trust network (Trust) of open registries holding one or more competency frameworks and by enabling search and retrieval of those frameworks and their competencies from any registry node in the network. The OCF Collab broadly defines the concept of a competency to include any attribute required to perform a work role including knowledge, skills, abilities, habits of mind or practice and tasks. The Collab defines a competency framework as an instance of a logically related set of competencies based on a specific competency framework model that has been encoded using a recognized metamodel standard such as, but not limited to, IMS Global Learning Consortium’s CASE, Credential Engine’s CTDL-ASN, and University of Washington/D2L's ASN.

Since the OCFC does not require a registry to natively support internally any particular metamodel in encoding its competency frameworks and associated competencies, the Collab relies on a transformation, or interchange service to transform instance data following one metamodel into instance data following a different metamodel. In the T3 OCF Collab instance based on this specification, the transformation service used is Rosetta Lens; by Eduworks. The mappings upon which such translation services rely have been provided through an instance of the OCF Collab’s Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper (DESM) tool that maps property semantics between publicly recognized competency framework metamodels.

OCF Collab Chair

Terence Ma, PhD

Terence Ma is a trained anatomist and basic scientist. He presently serves as Professor and Chair of Anatomy and Biomedical Sciences at the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Kansas Health Science Center where he is developing innovative curricula for the new medical school. He has been a funded research scientist, faculty member, and Assistant and Associate Dean at allopathic (MD) and osteopathic (DO) schools. He has also served as Chief Information Officer at a health sciences university. His career has focused on the intersection between health sciences education and educational technologies, particularly how we use technologies to track students’ progress toward learning goals and program outcomes. He serves as Co-Chair of the Research Alignment Group of MedBiquitous and serves on the Competencies Working Group, the CAP Leadership & Governance Working Group, and CAP Data Standards Working Group. He is a member of the IEEE Standards Association and of the work groups on competency standards: IEEE P1484.20.2, P1484.20.3, integrated learner records (P1484.2), and adaptive instructional systems (P2247). He actively participates with the T3 Innovation Network’s pilot projects and with Data Standards United.

OCF Collab Network Facilitators

• Jeanne Kitchens, Credential Engine (Email)
• Phil Barker, Cetis LLP (Email)

OCFC Network Resources

OCFC Network Meeting Schedules and Workgroups

• Master Meetings Schedule (2022-2023)
• Workgroups & Chairs

Communications

• T3 Hub
• Google Groups (Threaded Conversations)
  • Technical Advisory Workgroup
  • Requirements Workgroup on Skills & Competencies

OCFC Technology Projects

The OCFC Charter identifies technologies this Network is further Developing:

1. Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool - The Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper (DESM) is a powerful tool for creating data schema crosswalks that can be used by the OCF Collab member nodes in transposing schemas and by others for other purposes. The DESM is being developed via an open license.
   • DESM Tool Wikispace
   • Short Prototype DESM Tool Demonstration Video
     • DESM Github Repo ■ DESM Admin Documentation (draft)
2. OCFC Search Service - The search service provides and index and for multiple competency data sources and returns competency data based on mapped competency schemas (DESM) and utilizing a Metamodel Interchange. The OCFC is being developed via an open license
   • OCFC Search Service Wikispace
   • Short Prototype Search Service Demonstration Video
   • Search Prototype https://tool.ocf-collab.org/ - This is a prototype developed in 2020 that is limited to 300 frameworks, with 100 frameworks each coming from three registries using three different competency schemas: (1) Credential Engine Registry using CTDL-ASN, (2) IMS Global Case Network using CASE, and (3) Desire2Learn using ASN. A metamodel interchange API is used to translate between the schemas, so that each framework is available in its native schema or in both of the other two. These options are found via a download button located at the bottom, right of each competency framework detail page. The 300 frameworks are limited to four industries. To explore the prototype, use one of these keywords: manufacturing, industry, agriculture, or culinary. The search index for this prototype includes Competency statements, Competency Names, and Descriptions.
   • OCFC Github Repo ■ OCFC Search & Retrieval Admin Documentation (draft)
3. Metamodel Interchange - API for returning competency frameworks based on mapped competency schemas.

OCFC Use Cases

• Current Use Cases
• Use Cases in Development
• AI Use Case Scoping: Discussion Resources

OCFC Network Charter and Meetings

All meeting agendas, notes, materials, and recordings are available via the OCFC Network wiki page.

• OCFC Network Meeting Running Agenda & Notes with Presentations and Recordings
  • OCFC Network
  • OCFC Network Charter

Requirements Workgroup on Skills and Competencies (RWSC) Charter and Meetings

All meeting agendas, notes, materials, and recordings are available via the RWSC wiki page.

• Requirements Workgroup on Skills and Competencies
• RWSC Charter
• RWSC Meetings, Running Agenda and Materials

Technical Advisory Workgroup (TAW) Charter and Meetings

All meeting agendas, notes, materials, and recordings are available via the TAW wiki page.

• Technical Advisory Workgroup
• TAW Charter
• TAW Meeting, Running Agenda, and Materials
• TAW Project Plans: Current & Future
• 2020-21 DESM Agenda & Notes
• 2020-21 Search Service Agenda & Notes

Internal Teams (Limited Access)

• DESM
• OCFC Search Service
• OCFC Leadership (Planning)

T3 Network Guidelines and Collaborations

The OCFC Network collaborates across all T3 Networks and follows the (Current) T3 Guidelines Updated March 2022 (Deprecated) Pilot Period T3N² Guidelines (May 2021)

• Data & Technology Standards Network
• Learning and Employment Records Network
• Jobs and Workforce Data Network

Decision Making

• Consensus Index

Background Documents

• Document Titles and URLs

Join Us!

We invite all interested T3N² members to join one or both of the OCF Collab workgroups. Use this formto put your name onto the attendance roster for either or both of the OCF Collab workgroups. The master meeting schedule for the OCF Collab Network and the workgroups can be found here.To get additional information about T3N² Network of Networks and and the OCF Collab Network, also join the following:

• T3N² Network of Networks
• OCF Collab Network
• Requirements Workgroup on Skills and Competencies
• Technical Advisory Workgroup

To join the other three Networks in the T3N2 Network of Networks, use the following links:

• Data & Technology Standards Network (DTSN)
• Jobs & Workforce Data Network (JWDN
• Learning & Employment Records Network (LERN