How can competence be measured

In general, best practice should consider the following. Participants developing an e-learning community The e-learning environment should facilitate communication among the participants so that they develop as a student community. Students should also be able to interact easily with their instructors. Establish how the e-learning environment operates Students should receive an orientation so they understand how the e-learning environment will operate.

The instructor should establish the standards expected for submitted work. Submission deadlines for assignments and delivery methods must be clear. Incorporate different kinds of learning activities It is important to incorporate activities that are more interactive, as well as research projects. For example, use webinars live courses or seminars over the internet as well as offline coursework.

Encourage use of the internet as a resource Incorporate links to outside resources, such as the State Law Publisher for Western Australian legislation or Standards Australia for Australian Standards. Formula 5 to calculate the unit cost necessary to distribute into competency value in this software package. Formula 5 needs something called PWD prime working days from Formula Now we have a useful unit cost of one employee per day — remember this is a unit cost and it is good enough for our calculations.

Do not panic at the maths, they only need to be done once and that will be good enough for our calculations and for what you need. We now know we will measure units only, and if we have five key competencies with four units to each competency, we have a total of 20 units per person. For you to work out the individual point improvement the software will do the calculation for you.

The calculation is arrived at by the following maths:. We have now calculated the value of a single percentage point that we can apply to any individual. This allows us to value any improvement in the competency point arrived at through coaching, training or experience. Performance is raw output, essentially how much we do. Performance is measured in a number of ways including:. As with the approach to competency, management needs to set minimum company standards, and top end figures for performance Figure 5.

As with competency quality , no bonus or additional payments should be made for anything below required standards. Check this out carefully as it may not be legally possible, although I think it is morally right. All of this highlights the need for thorough recruitment practices. Just look at how good Google is at this — and look at its bottom line performance figures. Well there are two very separate components that affect this.

The first is TIME. In a hour week no-one can work 40 hours; we have various breaks including a lunch break. So, at best, the working week will only be 32 hours of available time.

This situation is worse if you look at the three categories of employees. What performance is expected should be very clear in the contract of employment, although companies should seek legal counsel in this regard as employment law statutes vary geographically. Performance levels above those required should be locked into a bonus or reward system. If the original criteria are correctly set it should be difficult for employees to do more in the same time, since in theory they are working at their optimal level.

So you will need to make the decision — bonus or overtime — but not both. Performance expectations above required performance should be established during the performance appraisal and updated throughout the year. In the SMART framework see below quality standards are clearly defined and managers can examine what, if any, additional competencies will be used at what level. Despite its simplicity, managers and supervisors often fail to use the SMART method, often because they do not understand it.

Training them to learn and use this process will prove to be of great financial value to any company. What does your company, product or service hope to achieve? Once your requirements are planned, it is time to turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you to be successful.

The setting of objectives focuses the entire company on specific aims over a specific period of time and motivates staff to stretch to meet those objectives. SMART is the simple acronym used to define and set these objectives:.

Managers need help with setting and managing performance. Often they are quick to make excuses for the failings of other employees so they do not have to take action that they personally find unpleasant. However, dealing with poor performance is something a manager should never put off. When you delay, you become part of the problem. Get into a productivity-focused mode as a state of mind, a way of thinking things through.

Always surround yourself with good people and carry this process through in all your recruitment efforts. We also need to know the current employee number or average number employed over the last 12 months.

If we look at Figure 6 it makes the issue easy to see and to act upon — any manpower planning department should be able to do this and once the chart has been produced come up with accurate staff prediction statistics. Software to do this: www. The result of the calculations will allow you to produce a chart showing just how many people you need in the organisation and will help in preventing managers from overstaffing. With quality competency standards and performance volume standards set, the next key element in the management of productivity is training.

Not all training adds value so how do you align training with improvements that are measurable and add value to your business? The remedy is to focus only on what is important and will produce results. One of the core driving factors of any organization is the competency level of its various team members. Each individual manager has a team of individuals that combine their knowledge and skills to produce the work required to achieve their assigned goals and targets.

It is important to point out that competencies are distinct from goals. Deciding what competencies each individual needs to develop is relatively easy and often forms part of the annual appraisal process.

Frequently this area is omitted from a manager formal training. Measuring Competencies Firstly, you need to understand how competencies are measured and then you can set processes in place to capture the relevant information. The most effective way to do this is in terms of the behaviors that define a specific competency. Both groups also need to ensure that their expectations for evidence match the maturity of implementation and the length of time required to find some answers.

To learn more about measuring blended learning, view our presentation and explore measurement-related Insights from the TLA team, practitioners, and other experts in the field. The strategies contained in this agenda are primarily focused on the teaching and learning happening at the classroom or school level, and the four parts fit together like puzzle pieces to complete the picture of evidence. These strategies were developed in partnership with multiple stakeholder organizations.

The measurement competency standards outlines strategies that enable the implementation of evidence-based blended learning practices.