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.

• 17 Search for Credentials aligned with Competencies. As a curriculum developer for an educational provider, I need to find industry certifications with required competencies that align to competencies taught and assessed in courses and programs for our existing and new certificates and degrees.
  • In order to: Identify industry certifications that require many of the same competencies as are covered by a learning opportunity / credential.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 18 Find Competencies from Credential. As a prior learning director at an educational provider, I need to find the competencies associated with specific industry certifications and crosswalk them to the competencies in our courses to determine equivalencies.
  • In order to: find the competencies required to obtain a specific industry certification.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 25 Map Competencies Across Instructional Delivery Methods. As (a person) creating training materials for other trainers, I can map competencies or skill statements at a granular level to align across different instructional delivery methods.
  • In order to: help the person find relevant competencies.
  • Assuming that: It is possible to identify competencies associated with different instructional delivery methods.
• 27 Issue Badges for Acquired Skills. As a provider of skills in the informal sector, I need to provide the learners with digital badges for their newly acquired skills.
  • In order to: allow the provider to identify skill descriptions that match those they provide.
  • Assuming that: competencies from informal learning have been determined

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.
• 17 Search for Credentials aligned with Competencies. As a curriculum developer for an educational provider, I need to find industry certifications with required competencies that align to competencies taught and assessed in courses and programs for our existing and new certificates and degrees.
  • In order to: Identify industry certifications that require many of the same competencies as are covered by a learning opportunity / credential.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 18 Find Competencies from Credential. As a prior learning director at an educational provider, I need to find the competencies associated with specific industry certifications and crosswalk them to the competencies in our courses to determine equivalencies.
  • In order to: find the competencies required to obtain a specific industry certification.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 19 Map Student's Job Competencies to College Courses. As an educational provider in the prior learning director role, I need to map the validated competencies achieved by a student on the job to competencies in the college's courses.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.
• 20 Map Student's Military Competencies to College Courses. As a college prior learning director, I need to map a student's military training and/or work role competencies to my college's course and certificate competencies to determine the number of prior learning credits to be awarded.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.
• 27 Issue Badges for Acquired Skills. As a provider of skills in the informal sector, I need to provide the learners with digital badges for their newly acquired skills.
  • In order to: allow the provider to identify skill descriptions that match those they provide.
  • Assuming that: competencies from informal learning have been determined

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.
• 19 Map Student's Job Competencies to College Courses. As an educational provider in the prior learning director role, I need to map the validated competencies achieved by a student on the job to competencies in the college's courses.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.
• 20 Map Student's Military Competencies to College Courses. As a college prior learning director, I need to map a student's military training and/or work role competencies to my college's course and certificate competencies to determine the number of prior learning credits to be awarded.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.

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.
• 16 Skill Gap Analysis. As an instructional designer, I need to identify the skills gaps of clients' employees in order to provide training to fill those gaps.
  • In order to: allow the user to find the relevant competencies in industry frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some means of identifying the relevant industry and there is a relevant framework of competencies required for the clients' employees.

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
• 16 Skill Gap Analysis. As an instructional designer, I need to identify the skills gaps of clients' employees in order to provide training to fill those gaps.
  • In order to: allow the user to find the relevant competencies in industry frameworks.
  • Assuming that: Competency descriptions are in frameworks with some means of identifying the relevant industry and there is a relevant framework of competencies required for the clients' employees.

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.
• 18 Find Competencies from Credential. As a prior learning director at an educational provider, I need to find the competencies associated with specific industry certifications and crosswalk them to the competencies in our courses to determine equivalencies.
  • In order to: find the competencies required to obtain a specific industry certification.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.

Given a list of skills, identify the occupations that have the greatest number of similar skills.

Required by

• 26 Find Occupations with similar skill requirements. As a person, I need to input a person’s validated cluster of skills in an occupation with waning demand and have returned a list of: (a) in demand occupations with skills adjacent to those currently held by the person; and (b) skill gaps needing to be filled for successful transition.
  • In order to: Allow the user to identify the competencies required for an occupation
  • Assuming that: info about which occupations are "in demand" is available.

"Daisy chain" features

For example: find competency descriptions required by an industry/occupation/certification and then use this as a list to find similar competencies elsewhere.

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 a URI / description for skills

So that it can be referenced, for example, as an achievements in a badge

• 27 Issue Badges for Acquired Skills. As a provider of skills in the informal sector, I need to provide the learners with digital badges for their newly acquired skills
  • In order to: allow the provider to identify skill descriptions that match those they provide.
  • Assuming that: competencies from informal learning have been determined.

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.
• 18 Find Competencies from Credential. As a prior learning director at an educational provider, I need to find the competencies associated with specific industry certifications and crosswalk them to the competencies in our courses to determine equivalencies.
  • In order to: find the competencies required to obtain a specific industry certification.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.
• 19 Map Student's Job Competencies to College Courses. As an educational provider in the prior learning director role, I need to map the validated competencies achieved by a student on the job to competencies in the college's courses.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.
• 20 Map Student's Military Competencies to College Courses. As a college prior learning director, I need to map a student's military training and/or work role competencies to my college's course and certificate competencies to determine the number of prior learning credits to be awarded.
  • In order to: Help education provider find relevant competencies based on list of competencies.
  • Assuming that: There is enough information about the students validated competencies to find them.

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.

Display information / link to information about the licence of a framework.

Required by:

• 21 Display info about Usage License. As an employer searching for competencies using the OCFC search service, the competency frameworks returned by my searches must indicate whether there are licensing constraints on my use of the frameworks or the competencies they contain.
  • In order to: Display info about Usage License
  • Assuming that: Info about Usage License is available.

Display an indication of mapping to occupation.

Optionally with labels and links to a description, or display the description

Required by:

• 22 Indicate Occupation in results display. As an employer searching the OCFC, I need to have some indication either through color coding text or other visual device that a skill returned by the search has been mapped to an occupation in a taxonomy.
  • In order to: indicate occupation in results display.
  • Assuming that: Competencies or the frameworks they are in have been mapped to an occupation.
• 23 Indicate Occupations with Labels and Links to Description. As an employer searching the OCFC, I need any skills returned by the search that have been linked by their creators to occupations in a taxonomy to display the textual labels of those occupations and provide a link to their source descriptions.
  • In order to: Indicate occupation info in results display
  • Assuming that: competencies or the frameworks they are in have been mapped to an occupation, and a label and link are available for this occupation.

Display a label/logo of source registry.

Notes: be aware of accessibility implications of displaying logo; read this to cover the source of the framework as well as the node in the network.

Required by:

• 24 Search Results Indicate Source Registry. As an instructional designer searching the OCFC for competencies, I need the results returned to indicate through text and/or logo the registry or library in which the competencies are made available.
  • In order to: indicate source registry
  • Assuming that: Info about source of the framework is provided (which may not be the same as a the source node)

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 or credential and order by job/occupation or credential 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.
• 17 Search for Credentials aligned with Competencies. As a curriculum developer for an educational provider, I need to find industry certifications with required competencies that align to competencies taught and assessed in courses and programs for our existing and new certificates and degrees.
  • In order to: Identify industry certifications that require many of the same competencies as are covered by a learning opportunity / credential.
  • Assuming that: The competence descriptions reference (directly or indirectly) the industry certifications that require them, or this information can be inferred from a reference in the other direction.

Display the difference between skill sets.

E.g. when given one list of skills from input and another required by an occupation.

Required by

• 26 Find Occupations with similar skill requirements. As a person, I need to input a person’s validated cluster of skills in an occupation with waning demand and have returned a list of: (a) in demand occupations with skills adjacent to those currently held by the person; and (b) skill gaps needing to be filled for successful transition.
  • In order to: Allow the user to identify the competencies required for an occupation.
  • Assuming that: info about which occupations are "in demand" is available.
• 28 Skill Gap Analysis. As a company training provider with a skills analysis complete for an employee in a specific work role, I need to determine the skills gap between the learner’s (or larger succession plan) current work role and the skills requirements of a new work role in order to design a training plan for the employee.
  • In order to: find skills associated with work roles.
  • Assuming that: The skills associated with a work role can be identified and listed

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).
• 16 Skill Gap Analysis. As an instructional designer, I need to identify the skills gaps of clients' employees in order to provide training to fill those gaps.
  • In order to: map between similar but differently expressed competencies is available that will allow identification of matches and omissions between the competencies the employees have and those they need.
• 17 Search for Credentials aligned with Competencies. As a curriculum developer for an educational provider, I need to find industry certifications with required competencies that align to competencies taught and assessed in courses and programs for our existing and new certificates and degrees.
  • In order to: map between similar but differently expressed competencies is available that will provide a measure of strength of fit.
• 18 Find Competencies from Credential. As a prior learning director at an educational provider, I need to find the competencies associated with specific industry certifications and crosswalk them to the competencies in our courses to determine equivalencies.
  • In order to: "determine and/or indicate equivalence between competencies".
• 19 Map Student's Job Competencies to College Courses. As an educational provider in the prior learning director role, I need to map the validated competencies achieved by a student on the job to competencies in the college's courses.
  • In order to: map between sets of competencies.
• 20 Map Student's Military Competencies to College Courses. As a college prior learning director, I need to map a student's military training and/or work role competencies to my college's course and certificate competencies to determine the number of prior learning credits to be awarded.
  • In order to: map between sets of competencies.
• 26 Find Occupations with similar skill requirements. As a person, I need to input a person’s validated cluster of skills in an occupation with waning demand and have returned a list of: (a) in demand occupations with skills adjacent to those currently held by the person; and (b) skill gaps needing to be filled for successful transition.
  • In order to: it is possible to map from one description of a skill to another.
• 28 Skill Gap Analysis. As a company training provider with a skills analysis complete for an employee in a specific work role, I need to determine the skills gap between the learner’s (or larger succession plan) current work role and the skills requirements of a new work role in order to design a training plan for the employee.
  • In order to: match different statements of the same skills in case that the skills in the two work roles are described differently.

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" / "in-demand occupations"

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
• 26 Find Occupations with similar skill requirements. As a person, I need to input a person’s validated cluster of skills in an occupation with waning demand and have returned a list of: (a) in demand occupations with skills adjacent to those currently held by the person; and (b) skill gaps needing to be filled for successful transition.

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.