Competency Explorer Feature Analysis

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OCFC Required Features

This page is currently an incomplete draft.

The TAW's analysis of use cases produced by the RWSC identified new features or capabilities required for the OCFC to meet those requirements. In this page those new features are collated in order to provide the basis for work plans for projects that can enhance the OCFC.

Competency discovery

Search capabilities

Search by work roles (or occupation/job/speciality) to find & display associated competencies.

Required by:

• 1 Document Competencies. As an instructional designer, I need to work with faculty to document competencies addressed by their courses in order to to support adequate student assessment as aligned to a particular job role.
  • In order to: find the competencies and provide the documentation about them.
  • Assuming: Competency data with links to/from workroles (or occupations/jobs/specialities) exist in the registry data.

Return results based on a competency description

Required by:

• 2. Alignment of Competencies. As a competency frameworks developer, I need to align the skills and competencies in my frameworks to the skills and competencies in other frameworks using links defining levels of similarity to assist in interoperability with organizations using those frameworks.
  • In order to: find competencies in frameworks that are described in one or more nodes.

• 3. Mapping Competencies. As an instructional designer at an educational provider, I need to map skills and competencies identified by an employer looking for training opportunities to the skills and competencies in the college's courses and training programs.
  • In order to: Help instructional designer find relevant competencies based on info provide by employer.
  • Assuming that: Data on competencies that are learning objectives of courses are available to the search service.
• 8. Map Competencies to Competencies in Recognized Frameworks. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training that can support the employees' career advancement, I need to map the training competencies to competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • In order to: find competencies in recognized industry frameworks, based on other known competencies.
  • Assuming that: competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.
• 9. Map Badges to Industry Recognized Frameworks to Support Career Pathways. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training, I need to map those digital badges / micro-credentials to jobs benchmarked to recognized industry competency frameworks that support lateral, vertical and latticed career advancement pathways.
  • In order to: Identify jobs / occupations that require many of the same competencies as the badges reference, so that possible career steps may be identified.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference the jobs / occupations that require them, or this information can be inferred from a references in the other direction.

Return several result sets in series, based on a list of competency descriptions

In order to:

• 6 Align Credentials to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As a designer of digital credentials, I need to align the competencies of those credentials to the competencies in the most recognized industry frameworks used by specific employers.
  • This may be a "bulk process", i.e. provide an array of competency descriptions, get matches for each.
  • In order to: allow the user to identify the relevant competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • Assuming: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.

Given a competency description and target frameworks, identify and return the closest matching competencies in the target framework.

Required by:

• 6 Align Credentials to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As a designer of digital credentials, I need to align the competencies of those credentials to the competencies in the most recognized industry frameworks used by specific employers.
  • In order to: allow the user to identify the relevant competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • Assuming: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.

Given a description of a training competency and an industry, find other relevant competency descriptions

Required by:

• 7 Map Training to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training, I need to map the training competencies to competencies in recognized industry competency frameworks.
  • In order to: Allow the user to identify the relevant competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some means of identifying the relevant industry.

Given a means of identifying an industry or occupation, find frameworks &/or competencies relevant to it

Required by:

• 7 Map Training to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training, I need to map the training competencies to competencies in recognized industry competency frameworks.
  • In order to: Allow the user to identify the relevant competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some means of identifying the relevant industry.
• 11 Search for Occupation Alignment. As a student interested in a specific occupation, I need to search the OCFC network for competencies aligned to that occupation.
  • In order to: Find competences / frameworks for a known occupation.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference the occupations that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 12 Search for Training Alignment. As a student interested in an occupation requiring specific competencies, I need to use the OCFC to find education and training opportunities where I can attain those competencies.
  • In order to: Identify competencies required for specified occupations.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference the occupations that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction

Given a means of identifying an industry certification, return relevant frameworks / competency descriptions.

Required by:

• 15 Search for Industry Certification Alignment. As an online education provider, I need to find the competencies that are aligned to a specific industry certification.
  • In order to: Identify competencies aligned to specified industry certifications
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.

Results returned have some indication of how close the match between the query and the results.

Required by:

• 2. Alignment of Competencies. As a competency frameworks developer, I need to align the skills and competencies in my frameworks to the skills and competencies in other frameworks using links defining levels of similarity to assist in interoperability with organizations using those frameworks.
  • In order to: document an alignment between competencies

• 3 Mapping Competencies: As an instructional designer at an educational provider, I need to map skills and competencies identified by an employer looking for training opportunities to the skills and competencies in the college's courses and training programs.
  • In order to: Help instructional designer find relevant competencies based on info provide by employer.
  • Assuming that: Data on competencies that are learning objectives of courses are available to the search service.
• 6 Align Credentials to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As a designer of digital credentials, I need to align the competencies of those credentials to the competencies in the most recognized industry frameworks used by specific employers.
  • In order to: allow the user to identify the relevant competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • Assuming: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.

Result display requirements

Display the KSA statements of the competencies satisfying the query.

Required implicitly by many, but explicit in:

• 10 Result display options As a university professor searching the OCFC for industry-defined competencies I'll want to align to from my course learning outcomes, I need the OCFC search engine to give me the option of: (a) displaying the actual knowledge, skill and disposition statements that satisfy my search; OR (b) displaying a list of competency frameworks in which those statements can be found by me browsing the content of each framework.
  • In order to: find competencies and display results.

Provide the means to select a display option

E.g. a framework view, a KSA view, or a combined framework/KSA view

Required by:

• 10 Result display options As a university professor searching the OCFC for industry-defined competencies I'll want to align to from my course learning outcomes, I need the OCFC search engine to give me the option of: (a) displaying the actual knowledge, skill and disposition statements that satisfy my search; OR (b) displaying a list of competency frameworks in which those statements can be found by me browsing the content of each framework.
  • In order to: find competencies and display results.

Show the relationship between a competency and workrole(s) (etc.) when the data is available.

Required by:

• 1 Document Competencies. As an instructional designer, I need to work with faculty to document competencies addressed by their courses in order to to support adequate student assessment as aligned to a particular job role.
  • In order to: find the competencies and provide the documentation about them.
  • Assuming: Competency data with links to/from workroles (or occupations/jobs/specialties) exist in the registry data.

Show those properties that contextualize the competence, e.g. links to courses, jobs, if they exist.

Required by:

• 3. Mapping Competencies. As an instructional designer at an educational provider, I need to map skills and competencies identified by an employer looking for training opportunities to the skills and competencies in the college's courses and training programs.
  • In order to: help instructional designer find relevant competencies based on info provide by employer.
  • Assuming that: Data on competencies that are learning objectives of courses are available to the search service.

Show information about the framework that a discovered competency is in.

Require by:

• 8. Map Competencies to Competencies in Recognized Frameworks. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training that can support the employees' career advancement, I need to map the training competencies to competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • In order to: find competencies in recognized industry frameworks, based on other known competencies.
  • Assuming that: competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.

Display information / link to information about creators of a framework.

Required by:

• 4 Selection Criteria Creator Information. As an instructional designer searching for competency frameworks to guide course development, I need sufficient descriptive information about the type and status of the creators of each framework such as profit vs. non-profit, industry group, academic.
  • In order to: Provide information about creators of frameworks.
  • Assuming that: given a link to the framework creator's website the required information can be found.
• 13 Information about Creator or Provider. As an instructional designer searching for competencies through the OCFC, I need to have information *identifying* the creator or provider of the competencies.
  • In order to: provide information identifying the creators of frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Information identifying the framework creator is available.
• 14 Description of Creator or Provider. As an instructional designer searching for competencies through the OCFC, I need to have information *describing* the creator or provider of the competencies.
  • In order to: provide information describing the creators of frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Information describing the framework creator is available.

Provide access to related documentation.

Required by:

• 5 Strength of Fit. As an organization, we need to statistically measure the similarities or strength of fit between competencies in two different competency frameworks that have been published by two different organizations and expressed, perhaps, in different meta-models (via both algorithmic transparency and provision of good documentation).
  • In order to: Provide access to the definitions of the identified competencies in the required meta-model, and a measure of similarity.
  • Assuming that: Links to the documentation exist.

Identify those related competencies that are returned that are in recognized industry frameworks.

Required by:

• 8. Map Competencies to Competencies in Recognized Frameworks. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training that can support the employees' career advancement, I need to map the training competencies to competencies in recognized industry frameworks.
  • In order to: find competencies in recognized industry frameworks, based on other known competencies.
  • Assuming that: competency descriptions are in frameworks with some indication of industry recognition.

Cluster the competencies found by job/occupation and order by job/occupation with most retrieved competencies.

Required by:

• 9. Map Badges to Industry Recognized Frameworks to Support Career Pathways. As an employer issuing digital badges / micro-credentials to employees for internal training, I need to map those digital badges / micro-credentials to jobs benchmarked to recognized industry competency frameworks that support lateral, vertical and latticed career advancement pathways.
  • In order to: Identify jobs / occupations that require many of the same competencies as the badges reference, so that possible career steps may be identified.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference the jobs / occupations that require them, or this information can be inferred from a references in the other direction.

Services in addition to search

Mapping different statements of similar competencies.

Measure similarity between competencies.

Required by:

• 5 Strength of Fit. As an organization, we need to statistically measure the similarities or strength of fit between competencies in two different competency frameworks that have been published by two different organizations and expressed, perhaps, in different meta-models (via both algorithmic transparency and provision of good documentation).

Could also support requirement that results returned have some indication of how close the match between the query and the results (see above).

Provide information about how measure of similarity was arrived at.

Required by:

• 5 Strength of Fit. As an organization, we need to statistically measure the similarities or strength of fit between competencies in two different competency frameworks that have been published by two different organizations and expressed, perhaps, in different meta-models (via both algorithmic transparency and provision of good documentation).

Analysis of competence related data

Determine the "most recognized frameworks"

E.g. based on usage statistics or links made to framework etc.

Required by

• 6 Align Credentials to Industry Recognized Frameworks. As a designer of digital credentials, I need to align the competencies of those credentials to the competencies in the most recognized industry frameworks used by specific employers

Identify education and training opportunities based on competency descriptions.

Required by:

• 12 Search for Training Alignment. As a student interested in an occupation requiring specific competencies, I need to use the OCFC to find education and training opportunities where I can attain those competencies.