OCF Collab Network: RWSC

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Advancing Open Competencies (AOC)

The Advancing Open Competencies (AOC) Workgroup is a chartered, standing Workgroup open to T3 Innovation Network members interested in open competencies.  Input ranges from broad advocacy to use cases and requirements for how people and organizations benefit from openly licensed competency and skill data.  This standing Workgroup is chartered to:

  1. make advocacy recommendations and craft information and resources to advance open skills and competencies to diverse audiences;
  2. use outreach programs to build connections with the broader competency and skills ecosystem;
  3. contribute use cases that scale competency and skill data;
  4. review the status of the Competency Explorer and the Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper (DESM) tool, and
  5. define requirements for refining and scaling the Competency Explorer.

The AOC Workgroup may define task-dependent Project Plans as needed  to accomplish specific goals.

AOC Workgroup Chair

Naomi Boyer, PhD, Executive Director, Digital Transformation, Education Design Lab
Naomi Boyer
Naomi identifies product solutions that support the successful deployment and scaling of the Lab’s 21st Century Skills Badges and related assets by facilitating the dialogue between the Lab, educational institutions, industry, and product vendors. She utilizes her technology background, higher education administration experience, and community engagement techniques to design solutions that work within the blossoming digital credential ecosystem. Naomi has national experience on the creation and implementation of competency-based education initiatives and worked locally to develop a collaborative, cross-institutional micro-credentialing system to address the industry expressed need for employability skills.
nboyer@eddesignlab.org, @NaomiBoyer on Twitter, LinkedIn

AOC Workgroup Resources

AOC Meeting Schedule

Master Calendar

The AOC will meet the1st Wednesday of each month. Occasional, temporary adjustments may be made. Below is the calendar for 2nd half of 2022. Meetings will continue into 2023.

  • 4-January-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 1-February-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 1-March-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 5-April-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK 
  • 3-May-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 7-June-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 5-July-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 2-August-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 6-September-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 4-October-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK
  • 1-November-2023 @ 9 am, PT / 10 am, MT / 11 am CT / 12 pm, ET /  5 pm UK

AOC Standing Items

1. Please mark yourself as present in the Roster. To be eligible to vote a participant must have attended at least two of the last four meetings, not including the current meeting.
2. Ensure you are familiar with the current T3 Network of Network Guidelines, in particular:

§5.5 Network of Networks Legal and Intellectual Property - “In particular, by discussing, distributing, or otherwise disclosing any content, materials, or other information (collectively “Disclosed Content”) through participation with the T3 Network, participants represent and warrant that: (i) they own all rights in and to the Disclosed Content, or, if the Disclosed Content is subject to third-party intellectual property rights, the participant has all necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to share the Disclosed Content; (ii) the participant is legally entitled to post the Disclosed Content, and (iii) the Disclosed Content does not violate any law. To the extent that any Disclosed Content is subject to any form of intellectual property or proprietary rights, by disclosure through participation with the T3 Network, the participant provides a license to the T3 Network and all participants for use of such Disclosed Content pursuant to the CC BY 4.0 Creation Commons license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The T3 Network’s policy is to comply fully and strictly with relevant international, national, and state antitrust laws.”

3. Meetings are recorded, recordings are made publicly available.

February 1, 2023

Topics and Meeting Resources

The February 1, 2023 AOC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings and chat are saved in the 2023-02-01 AOC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the AOC Google Group.

Complete the Standing Items - Jeanne Kitchens

  • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
  • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).

Next Steps

  1. Complete the following by February 17, 2023

January 4, 2023

Topics and Meeting Resources

The January 4, 2023 AOC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings and chat are saved in the 2023-1-04 AOC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the AOC Google Group.

  • Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  • Open Competencies Network Update - Terence Ma
    • The November 30, 2022 Meeting introduced the (DRAFT) 5 Star Open Competency Data - This one page document is meant to be a high-level summary. Additional resources for achieving the progression of stars can be created and linked from this summary.
    • Next Steps: Please review and add your comments and suggestions.
  • C3 Webinar Series Update - Naomi Boyer and Eric Shepherd
    • Next webinar is January 18, 2023, Capturing and Sharing Achieved Competencies as Data is the topic. The presenters are Learning Economy Foundation who will focus on leveraging skills/competencies with LearnCard and the North Dakota Digital Credential Co-Lab Team will focus on how they leverage open competency frameworks and integrate those frameworks into a wallet.
    • Next Steps:
  • TAW Update - Phil Barker/ Steve Gance
  • Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool Update - Jeanne Kitchens
    • The DESM Pilot is well underway.
      • Started the pilot on Nov 11, 2022 with eight data standards organizations (DSO). The pilot plan identifies the skills-based hiring use cases and the pilot participants are mapping their classes/properties based on three abstract classes that are important in supporting the use cases: (1) Organization, (2) Person, (3) Competence. The pilot concludes end of February 2023. A final report will be shared.
      • The participating DSOs are: (1) 1EdTech, (2) A4L, (3) Achievement Standards Network, (4) CEDS, (5) Credential Engine, (6) IEEE/Advanced Distributed Learning, (7) PESC, and (8) Schema.org.
      • The pilot project is structured to support each mapper to use the DESM tool to map the classes/properties relevant to the pilot scoping. In addition to scheduled meetings, the pilot support team is accessible by email and for one-on-one guidance conversations.  Guidance was developed and has been tweaked based on experience by mappers.
  • Competency Explorer Update - Phil Barker
    • Completed development to support use case S5. Working on next set of use cases: R1, R9, and R11.
    • Concurrently identifying potential Competency Explorer nodes.
    • Next Steps: If you know of organizations or products that are interested in participating as a node, email Jeanne Kitchens (jkitchens@credentialengine.org) and Phil Barker (phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk).
  • AOC Workgroup - Naomi

Next Steps

November 2, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The November 2, 2022 AOC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings and chat are saved in the 2022-11-02 AOC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the AOC Google Group.

  • Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  • Open Competencies Network Update
    • Moving forward with name change from OCFC Network to OC Network. This means many updates to the wiki!
    • Next OC Network meeting is Wednesday, November 30, 2022. An invitation will be sent by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation to members.
  • C3 Webinar Series Update
    • Next webinar is November 16th. Share the link and register C3 Webinar Series#Connecting Competence Communities.2C 16-November-2022: Recommended Practices.
    • There will not be a C3 Webinar in December.
    • Working on lining up topics and speakers for January and February.
      • Drafting criteria for identifying topics and speakers focused on the C3 purpose.
    • If you have speaker suggestions for 2023 email Eric Shepherd, C3 Lead (eric.shepherd@talenttransformation.com) and Jeanne Kitchens, AOC Facilitator (jkitchens@credentialengine.org).
  • Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool Update
    • The DESM Pilot Plan schedule has been determined. See the Scheduled Activities and Timeline Section.
      • Pilot participants are data standard organizations (DSO) - 5 DSOs have confirmed, 3 are interested. This meets our goal for the quantity of DSOs with relevant schemas to be mapped as the primary pilot activity.
      • Kickoff meeting with DSOs is November 17th and concludes February 23, 2022.
      • A final report as described with the DESM Pilot Plan will be shared.
  • Competency Explorer
  • AOC Workgroup Activity

Next Steps

October 5, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The October 5, 2022 AOC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings and chat are saved in the 10-5-2022 AOC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the AOC Google Group.

  1. Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  2. OCFC Update
  3. Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool Update
    • Developed the DESM Pilot Plan
    • Pilot period begins November 2022 and concludes February 2023.
  4. Competency Explorer
  5. C3 Webinar Series Update
    • Speakers are lined up for October and November C3 Webinar Series#Upcoming Webinar Topics.
    • No webinar will be held in December due to timing during the holiday season.
    • While awaiting set up of the C3 YouTube Channel, archived webinars are on the wiki C3 Webinar Series#Archived Webinars.
    • If you have speaker suggestions for 2023 email Eric Shepherd, C3 Lead (eric.shepherd@talenttransformation.com) and Jeanne Kitchens, AOC Facilitator (jkitchens@credentialengine.org).
  6. AOC Objectives/Outcomes:
    • 1. Advocate for visibility, exchange/trade, and use of open competency and skill data
      • 1.a Developed public information that advocates for the use of open competency and skill data.
      • 1.b. Engaged with external networks and organizations to increase visibility, exchange/trade, and use of open competency and skill data.
      • 1.c Established a baseline to scale usage for the Competency Explorer and DESM.
    • 2. Develop recommendations for building trust with competency and skill data sharing and reuse.
      • 2.a Published recommendations used to refine and scale the Competency Explorer and DESM tool.
    • 4. Coordinated with U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Technical Advisory group and contributed towards requirements to refine, scale, and sustain the Competency Explorer and DESM tool using T3 collaboration tools.
      • 4.a Coordinated with U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Technical Advisory group and contributed towards requirements to refine, scale, and sustain the Competency Explorer and DESM tool using T3 collaboration tools.
      • 4.b Defined requirements that are publicly available.
      • 4.c Established a baseline to scale usage for the Competency Explorer and DESM.

Next Steps

September 7, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The September 7, 2022 AOC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings and chat are saved in the 09-07-2022 AOC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the AOC Google Group.

  1. Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  2. OCFC Update - Terence and Jeanne
  3. TAW Update - Steve and Phil
    • Competency Explorer Project Plan was submitted to the T3 Steering Committee and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Next step is for the Chamber to contract development.
    • Updating TAW Charter.
  4. AOC: Final Advancing Open Competencies Charter (September 1, 2022) - Naomi and Jeanne
    • Next Step: Goes to T3 Steering Committee for acceptance. Next meeting is October 11, 2022.
    • Our next steps: Determine our next tranche of work.
  5. C3 Connecting Competency Communities Webinar Series - Eric Shepherd
  6. Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper (DESM)Tool Demonstration - Joe Baird, Director of Client Solutions at Learning Tapestry
    • Reference and Status Update:

Next Steps

  1. Review the updated Advancing Open Competencies Charter and think about, and provide your input on our next tranche of work aligned to the Charter's scope, and objectives.
  2. Review the C3 Connecting Competency Communities Webinar Series
    • Provide feedback on the Project Plan.
    • Sign up for the C3 Webinar Series via the Zoom Registration site and share information about it.
    • Provide speaker suggestions to email Eric eric.shepherd@talenttransformation.com and Jeanne Kitchens, AOC Facilitator jkitchens@credentialengine.org
  3. Watch for meeting AOC meeting invites for October through December occurring the 1st Wednesday of each month. See the OCFC calendar.

August 17, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The July 20, 2022 RWSC discussed the following topics. The meeting video and audio recordings are saved in the 08-17-2022 RWSC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the OCFC RWSC Google Group.

  1. Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  2. Update on T3 Activities
  3. OCFC Network
  4. Update on TAW Activities
    • The Competency Explorer Project Plan is moving forward. The TAW deadline for voting on the Competency Explorer Project Proposal concluded on Friday, August 12, 2022.
    • Voting was based on: (1) the Use Case Analysis on the wiki, (2) the List of Features on the wiki, and (3) the Project Proposal document.
      • The Project Proposal has two deliverables (1) Ensure that a demonstrator instance of the OCFC Competency Explorer is maintained for the duration of the project. (2) The incremental evaluation and development (if possible) of enhanced capabilities for competency search and retrieval.
        • The deliverables will be technology demonstrators, not polished production-level user experiences.
        • The process is modeled on Feature Driven Development, an agile methodology suitable for such explorative projects.
        • The feature list is a "wish list" of new capabilities, not all will be implemented. Some will not be feasible given the distributed and heterogeneous nature of the data, level of funding, and various organizations involved. The project will implement some features and identify why others cannot be implemented.
        • Some important Assumptions and Risks are detailed at the end of the project proposal. Next Steps: Provide overview to (1) T3 Steering Committee this week, and (2) Chamber contracts with Learning Tapestry to build off their prior work and begin work on the deliverables.
  5. RWSC Charter: Proposed Charter Updates
    • A clean draft of the RWSC Charter that uses comments and suggestions from RWSC members, is ready for review.
      • Review the clean AOC Workgroup Charter and see the original RWSC Charter with feedback.
      • Renames the RWSC to Advancing Open Competencies (AOC) Workgroup
      • Some of the goals are to consolidate details that were in the original version to ensure it has longevity and have achievable objectives that are measurable.
        • Details of programs and projects can be documented separately using T3 Project Plan templates, on the T3 OCFC Network Wiki, and via the T3 Hub.
      • Next steps: (1) review during today's meeting and make any agreed upon changes, and (2) provide to Workgroup members and provide two weeks to complete the AOC Workgroup Charter Online Consensus Form.
  6. New Workgroup Program
    • Webinar series, C3 "Connecting Competency Communities
      • Eric Shepherd, President, Foundation for Talent Transformation is heading up the ideation process and setup and is seeking input and speaker ideas.
      • Interesting topics and speakers that engage audience
      • Expanding network of advocates for open competencies
      • Growing participation  with Competency Explorer and DESM
      • Facilitating dialogue and encouraging connections
      • Using the existing dates/times set on OCFC Network Calendar for this workgroup's 3rd Wednesday of each month meeting.
        • 1 hour, 2 speakers, time for dialogue
        • Planning to begin September 21, 2022

Next Steps

  1. Review the Draft clean AOC Workgroup Charter, provide any comments and complete the AOC Workgroup Charter Online Consensus Form by August 31, 2022.

July 20, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The July 20, 2022 RWSC discussed the following topics. The meeting chat, video and audio recordings are saved in the 07-20-2022 RWSC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the OCFC RWSC Google Group.

  1. Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  2. Apologies for absence: Jeanne and Naomi are busy elsewhere.
  3. Meet Taylor Hanson, Executive Director, Policy & Programs, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
    1. Taylor recently joined the Chamber and will be working with all of us on T3 Innovation Network.
  4. RWSC Calendar
    • The RWSC calendar is updated to continue meeting the 1st and 3rd Wednesday each month and the time has been moved to start one hour earlier to support more people joining meetings across international time zones.
    • Meeting invites were sent through September 21, 2022, and invite for the remainder of the year will be sent soon.
    • See the above Meeting Schedule section
  5. Competency Explorer
    • Competency Explorer was selected as the name for the search service. Going forward any materials or references will use Competency Explorer.
  6. T3 Innovation Network Mid-Year Meeting.
    • Thursday, 4 August 2022, 09:00 - 16:00 (UTC-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, located at 1300 I (Eye) St NW, Washington, DC 20005.
    • Registration Open for the in-person event and reception https://events.uschamberfoundation.org/MidYearMeeting2022
    • Naomi is representing OCFC Network at the event and participating with an afternoon panel.
    • Online participation will also be available. US Chamber of Commerce will email a separate invitation for online participation soon.
  7. Update on TAW Activities
    • Analysis of Uses Cases from RWSC is complete.
    • (New) OCFC Required Features page collates these required features / capabilities, and groups them thematically.
    • The next step is to collate these new required features / capabilities into a funded T3 Project Proposal.
    • The Project Proposal as well as the above requirements documentation will used to develop the scope of work for a contract with the developer.
  8. Update RWSC Charter

Next Steps

  1. Finalize RWSC Charter
  2. Identify and begin next set of activities.

July 11, 2022 RWSC Request for Input and Updates

RWSC Google Group Email

The following message was posted to the RWSC Google Group to email to all members

Dear RWSC members,

Please provide your suggestions and comments for the RWSC Charter - Please provide suggestions and comments directly in the document by Friday, Jul 22, 2022.  The sections highlighted in yellow are open to revision. Copy of Approved RWSC Charter for Review and Updates May 2022.

The RWSC calendar is updated to continue meeting the 1st and 3rd Wednesday each month and the time has been moved to start one hour earlier to support more people joining meetings across international time zones. CALENDAR: MAR 2022-DEC 2023.  

Thank you to all who participated with the survey to name the competency search service.  The top three search names were: Competency Explorer, Open Competency Explorer (OCE) tied for 1st place, and Competency Discovery Platform (CDP) in 3rd place. Competency Explorer was selected based on the likelihood that not all competencies will be open and having a two word name keeps it simple and not an acronym.  The TAW has completed the search service use case review and will use Competency Explorer as the name with the project plan to begin development.  

Thanks so much!  Jeanne Kitchens, OCFC RWSC Facilitator

June 1, 2022

Topics and Meeting Resources

The June 1, 2022 RWSC discussed the following topics. The meeting chat, video and audio recordings are saved in the 06-02-2022 RWSC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the OCFC RWSC Google Group.

  1. Complete the Standing Items
    • Mark yourself as "present" on the Roster
    • Review required reading from T3 Guidelines Section 5.5 (above).
  2. Update on TAW use case review for OCFC Search Requirements:
    • Continued to build out use case requirements via the TAW Use Case wiki.
    • Discussed use cases 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15.
  3. Update on Data Ecosystem Schema Mapper Tool
    • Development work is underway for the current phase of work.
    • Pilot plan is under development to begin in August with multiple data standards organizations.
  4. Update on AI use cases for scaling competency data:
  5. Update on OCFC search service naming survey
    • Provided the survey to the OCFC Network during the May 18, 2022 meeting.
    • 15 responses received so far.
    • Google Sheet with total points and percentage of points - Top 4 names are shown in the Top Four Search Service Names chart below.
      • Totals points are based on adding up the the total points for each name. E.g., if
    • Two additional search names were submitted: (1) Credential and Skill Meta-Registry, (2) Open Skill and Competency Search Service
    • One comment was received: Mainly I don't like ones that would use an acronym that is already being used, or ones that are long/hard to remember. That's why I like GETSC, it sounds like what it is.
  6. Review and update OCFC RWSC Charter:
Top 4 Search Service Names
Search Name Total Points Percentage of Total
Competency Explorer 50 6.0 %
Open Competency Explorer (OCE) 49 5.9 %
Skill and Competency Discovery Platform (SCDP) 49 5.9 %
Competency Discovery Platform (CDP) 47 5.7 %

Next Steps

The meeting chat, video and audio recordings are saved in the 06-02-2022 RWSC Google Drive Folder. Meeting follow up is posted to the OCFC RWSC Google Group and Google Group Email t3-ocfc-rwsc@credentialengine.org.

Please participate with the following three items:

  1. Review, add suggestions and comments to the RWSC Charter
    • See item 6 above in the June 1 topics for more information on sections to focus on.
    • Think about and provide suggestions for how a speaker series or other forms of advocacy could align to advancing open, human and machine readable competency data via any of these options: (this) Google Group, via the Charter (linked above), or email Naomi [[1]] and Jeanne [[2]].
  2. Set meeting frequency, day of week, and time of day - Complete the RWSC meeting time options survey with some options that will make the meetings earlier in the day to bring in more international time zones. See the current OCFC Calendar. Please respond no later than end of next week so we can get the meeting schedule on calendars.
  3. Complete the new search name survey narrowed down to the top four name suggestions (seen in the chart above).

May 4, 2022

This meeting provided an update on the TAW process using RWSC developed use cases for the OCFC search, provided a survey to get feedback on naming the OCFC search, and featured a presentation by Eduworks on SkillSync AI services. The presentation provided additional context for the RWSC discussion about supporting AI use cases for scaling competency data.

Additional Materials:

April 20, 2022

This meeting focused on scoping AI use cases for scaling competency data.

March 23, 2022

March 9, 2022

February 23, 2022

February 9, 2022

January 19, 2022

December 15, 2021

December 1, 2021

November 17, 2021

November 3, 2021

October 20, 2021

October 6, 2021

September 22, 2021

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