Courses, Learning Events, Competencies, and Job Roles
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By Dana Fine, Senior Instructional Designer and Implementation Consultant, SyberWorks, Inc.
At SyberWorks, we are often asked, “What is the difference between Courses, Learning Events, Competencies, and Job Roles?” It’s a great question!
A Course is basically testable and scoreable learning content that can be delivered to students either online (such as, through a Learning Management System) or offline (often in a physical classroom). Courses usually have a passing status (at least), and often a specific final grade. Online Courses can be tested and graded automatically, while students’ passing statuses and grades for offline Courses need to be manually entered into the LMS. However, both kinds of Courses can appear on LMS-generated student transcripts.
A Learning Event is a defined mechanism for delivering this subject-related content. One or more Courses (of either type) can enable a student to complete an associated Learning Event. Once completed, one or more Learning Events can grant students mastery of all associated Competencies (or “skills”). And once Competencies are mastered, any associated Job Roles are earned. Job Roles are the final indication that students who earn them can perform defined functions within the organization.
For example, let’s say that I want to earn the Job Role of “PC Field Technician.” To do so in my organization, I need to master three associated Competencies:
- Repairing Laptop PCs
- Repairing Desktop PCs
- Repair-work Safety
The laptop Competency alone may require that I complete three Learning Events (repairing laptop screens, keyboards, and internal components) and then prove my laptop-repair mastery in a live demo to my supervisor:
- The laptop screen Learning Event is defined to require that I pass a “Laptop 101” online Course. And once I pass it, the laptop screen Learning Event is completed.
- The laptop keyboard Learning Event similarly requires that I pass a “Laptop 102” online Course. And once I pass it, this Learning Event is also completed.
- The laptop internals Learning Event then requires that I pass an offline (classroom) Course, and submit a passing certificate to my LMS administrator. They then update my training record to show that I successfully completed this Learning Event.
- And the final Learning Event (the laptop-repair demo), requires that I show my supervisor that I can indeed repair a laptop PC. Once the supervisor sees that I can, she emails the LMS admin, who also adds this data to my training record.
And once I similarly pass the other two desktop-repair and repair-safety Courses, complete their associated Learning Events, and master their associated Competencies, I will at last earn the right to perform the “PC Field Technician” Job Role that required all of them.
The neat thing about this Course / Learning Event / Competency / Job Role structure is that administrators can assign and coordinate the dates when they all must be completed, and as a result, can configure, track, and manage both student learning plans and training schedules. These schedules can also factor in “repeat intervals” that may be required for annual Competency re-certifications. And automatic emails can tell students (and their supervisors) how and when the next round of training needs to be completed, to recertify student Competencies and re-qualify them for associated Job Roles.
About the Author:
Dana Fine is a Senior Instructional Designer at SyberWorks, Inc http://www.syberworks.com. SyberWorks is a custom e-Learning solutions company that specializes in Learning Management Systems, e-Learning solutions, and custom online course development. Dana is also a frequent contributor to the Online Training Content Journal.
The Boggs e-Learning Chronicle Blog & The Online Training Content Journal
Dave Boggs writes two web blogs: the Boggs e-Learning Chronicle 
, which reports on trends, provides observations, and information about e-Learning and web-based training; and the Online Training Content Journal which looks at best practices, techniques, and trends in online training development and e-Learning instructional design..
