Development:Competencies
Note: This page outlines ideas for the Competencies feature planned for Moodle 2.0. It's a specification under construction! If you have any comments or suggestions, please add them to the page comments.
- PROJECT STATE: Proposal
- MAIN TRACKER ISSUE:
- DISCUSSION: Not yet announced on Moodle.org
- COMMENTS: Development_talk:Competencies
- AUTHOR: Jonathan Newman with help from Matt Clarkson and others
Overview
To support the range of different types of competency frameworks used by organisations, competencies in Moodle 2.0 needs to expand on the 1.9 outcomes architecture.
Goals
- Measured amount of abstraction
- Allow "admins" to organise competencies in a hierarchy
- Allow "admins" to create unlimited hierarchical levels
- Allow "admins" to map related competencies on a given depth level
- Allow "admins" to define custom info fields on a given depth level
- Easy navigation
- Allow "admins" to view the competency structure
- Expanding/collapsing competencies
- Sorting/searching/filtering by competency meta data
- Allow "admins" to easily add new competencies and meta-data
- Allow "admins" to view the competency structure
- Linking competencies and evidence items
- Allow "admins" to easily attach allowed evidence (course, activity, etc) to a competency (from a site-level competency view):
- Allow "course creators" to attach competencies to evidence within a course:
- Portability
- Allow "admins" to import competencies (using import plugins) into a Moodle install
- Allow "admins" to export competencies (using export plugins) from a Moodle install
- Specifying expected proficiency levels
- Allow "admins" to assign an expected proficiency level (i.e., competency scale value) to a competency and a competency evidence item
- Aggregating measured proficiency
- Allow "admins" to specify aggregation methods for each competency
- Reporting
- Allow "admins" to view competency results for all students
- Allow "teachers" to view student measured proficiencies related to evidence in his/her courses.
- Allow "students" to view their own competency results (via either their personal profile or My Moodle).
- Specifying weights
- Allow "admins" to assign weight to a competency or a competency evidence item
- Scalability
- Store and retrieve data efficiently to allow the scalability to very large numbers of courses, users, competencies, evidence, etc
- Extensibility
- Use a plugin architecture for evidence types
General requirements
- We'll need to access and use the existing site-wide Outcomes Outcomes tables
- We'll need to use the tables that indicate completion status for courses (these are not yet in place) Course Completion
- We need to get aggregate information about the course outcomes and aggregate grades for each user from the gradebook API
Definitions
Scale: A way to measure a competency using scale values.
Example scales:
"Average-based scale" "Competency-based scale"
Scale values: Descriptor or numeric values that comprise a scale. A scale value can have a id number (code) and description.
Example scales values (with descriptors and numerical values) for the scale examples above:
"Below average [1], Average [2], Above average [3] "Not yet competent [0], Competent [100]"
Competency: A measurable knowledge, skill, ability, attitude or other learning-related characteristic which a student may have. Competencies can be organised into a hierarchy.
Example hierarchy of competencies:
top-level competency: "Literacy" -> child competency: "Reading Comprehension" -> child competency: "Responding to Text" -> child competency: "Initial Understanding of Literary Text" -> child competency: "Demonstrate initial understanding of elements of literary texts (including text read aloud, reading independently"
Competency evidence type: A form of evidence that can be accepted as evidence that a competency has been achieved. Examples:
Activity grade Activity completion Activity outcome Course completion Course grade File (diploma)
Competency evidence: A competency can be measured by one or more competency evidence types. Evidence can be stated to include the evidence type, evidence date, and measured value. Examples:
"Quiz - 4:00pm May 28, 2009 - Grade 90% out of 100%" "Certificate - Public Speaking Institute - 4:00pm May 28, 2009 - Passed." "File - College Diploma - 4:00pm May 28, 2009 - Bachelor of Science Computer Science"
Expected proficiency level: The expected (or required) rating (based on a scale descriptor or numerical value) for a competency. Examples:
"Average" "5" "50%" "Passed"
Measured proficiency level: A user's observed, scored, reported proficiency level for a competency.
"Above average" "8" "80%" "Passed"
Competency weighting: Child competencies can be assigned weights which can be used for aggregating either sums or averages of child competencies. Examples:
Example with percentage weights
-> top-level competency: "Communication" -> child competency: "Written Communication" : weight: 60% -> child competency: "Oral Communication" : weight: 40%
Example frameworks
Example 1: Competency hierarchy with activity outcomes as evidence
The example data below is based roughly on the Department of Education for the State of Vermont's Grade 1 Expectations for Literacy for Reading.
Depth level | Depth name | Competency
full name |
Competency
evidence |
Competency
aggregation method |
Competency
weight |
Competency
proficiency expected |
0 | "Curriculum" | "Literacy" | none | all | 20% | 80% |
1 | "Type" | "Reading" | none | all | 20% | 100% |
2 | "Standard" | "Standard 1.1 Reading Strategies" | none | all | 20% | 80% |
3 | "Strategy" | "Early Reading Skills and Strategies: Phonological Awareness" | none | all | 100% | 80% |
4 | "Code" | "RK: 1 - Applies phonological knowledge and skills by..." | activity outcome "Recognizing pairs of rhyming words and producing rhymes"
activity outcome "Blending and segmenting syllables and onset-rimes" activity outcome "Isolating phonemes in single-syllable words (e.g., "tell me the first sound in 'mop' "; "tell me the last sound in 'mop,'" "tell me the middle sound in 'mop'")" |
all | 50% | 80% |
3 | "Strategy" | "Early Reading Skills and Strategies - Concepts of Print" | none | all | 50% | 80% |
4 | "Code" | "RK: 2 - Demonstrates understanding of concepts of print during shared or individual reading by..." | activity outcome: "Distinguishing between printed letters and words"
activity outcome: "Following text with finger-pointing (e.g., charts, simple books), demonstrating left-to-right and top-to-bottom directionality" activity outcome: "Identifying the first and last parts of a word (beginning/end of the word)" activity outcome: "Identifying key parts of a book: front and back, print, illustrations" |
all | 50% | 80% |
See here for how the data above fits into the proposed schema.
Settings
Site settings
Activity Completion provides an "Enable outcomes" setting (found in the Site Administration block's Advanced features / optional subsystems settings page). We need to keep outcomes, however we will need to add competencies.
Proposed changes:
- Create a new setting named "Enable competencies" (the setting will allow competencies to be defined)
User interface
Site Administration block
When competencies are enabled, a "Competencies" menu item should appear in the Site Administration block. An "Add / edit competencies" option should appear when "Competencies" is clicked. The "Add / edit competencies" will point to the "Add / edit competencies" admin page.
Add/edit competencies admin page
An "admin" can use this page to add and edit competencies and competency depth levels, using buttons and features available in a table.
Buttons
- An "Add a new competency" button will link to the "Add a competency" admin page.
- An "Add a new depth level" button will link to the "Add a depth level" admin page.
Table rows
- A "plus" / "minus" icon will appear on the right of each row in the table, allowing all child competencies to be shown or hidden.
Table columns
- A default, top-level competency depth named "Competency" will appear in a table as a column on the left. The default competency depth name can be changed (e.g., "Competency Area", "Standard", "Development Area", etc).
- When a new competency depth is added, it will appear as column to the right of the next highest competency depth level.
- Appearing to the right of the competency depth level columns will be the following "standard" interface columns: "Evidence items", "Edit", and "Move competency to".
Below are more specifics on the table columns and content:
- [Competency depth level 0 name], [Competency depth level 1 name], [Competency depth level 2 name], ... [Competency depth level n name]
- Columns of depth levels will be ordered from highest/top-level (on the left) to the lowest (on the right).
- An edit icon will appear beside each competency depth name, and will link to the "Edit competency depth" page (which will allow an "admin" to change the name of the competency depth name).
- The competency name will be displayed, and will link to a page containing meta data and possibly summary proficiency achievement stats about the competency.
- Evidence item
- By default the number of evidence items will be "0". The number shown will link to the "Add / edit evidence items" admin page for the given competency.
- Edit
- Three icons appear providing the following functionality:
- "edit" icon points to the "Edit competency" page for the competency
- "delete" icon points to a confirmation page for deleting the competency
- "up" / "down" icons will appear beside child competencies when a parent has two or more child competencies. A competency can only be moved up or down with respect to a parent competency.Only the down arrow will appear for the highest child competency, and only the up arrow will appear for the lowest child competency.
- Three icons appear providing the following functionality:
- Move competency to
- A drop down menu appears containing all parent competencies at the next highest depth.
- Competencies can only be moved from one parent to another parent in the same depth level.
Add a competency page
An "admin" will be use this page to add a new competency, with the following settings:
General settings
- Parent competency
- Competency full name
- Competency short name
- Competency ID number
- Description
- Aggregation method
- Scale
- Proficiency expected
Custom depth level settings
- Form elements based on custom fields for selected depth level (based on the parent competency)
- Changing the selected parent competency should update the custom fields shown, if the depth level of the parent changes
Data structures
scale
Scales (introduced in Moodle 1.9) give a scale value a single attribute: text (i.e., the name of the scale value like "below standard," "meets standard," "above standard"). Scale values can be particularly useful if given attributes including: numerical equivalent, idnumber (code id), and a description. The new attributes will require a new table.
Proposed changes: Create a new table 'scale_values' that includes a foreign key to the 'scale' table, and migrate the 'scale' field values from the 'scale' table (as serialised text) to the 'scale_values' table (as separate records). A sort order field will be used to track ranking (starting with the lowest with a sortorder of 0).
Below is the proposed 'scale' table, and further below is the proposed 'scale_value' table.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
courseid | int(10) | Id of the course, which the scale belongs to | |
userid | int(10) | Id of the user who last modified the scale | |
name | varchar(255) | Name of the scale value | |
description | text | Description of the scale value | |
timemodified | int(10) | Timestamp of when the scale was modified |
scale_values
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
scaleid | int(10) | Id of the scale that the scale value describes | |
name | varchar(255) | Name of the scale value | |
idnumber | varchar(100) | Optional id, code number or local identifier for the scale value (used for reporting). | |
description | text | Description of the scale value | |
numeric | number(8) | Numerical value for the scale value | |
sortorder | int(10) | The order for the scale value | |
timemodified | int(10) | Timestamp of when the scale value was modified |
competency
A competency can be part of a hierarchy and can have evidence attached to it.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
shortname | varchar(100) | The shortname for the competency | |
fullname | varchar(255) | The full name for the competency | |
description | text | The description of the competency | |
idnumber | int(10) | The id, code number or local identifier for the competency used for reporting | |
parentid | int(10) | The id of the parent competency | |
sortorder | int(10) | The order number of this competency (useful for ordering competencies for viewing/navigation/reporting) | |
depthid | int(10) | The id of the depth level the competency belongs to | |
path | varchar(255) | The path to the competency | |
aggregationmethod | int(10) | A constant representation one of the competency aggregation methods (any, all, unit, fraction, sum of weighted, average of weighted) | |
scaleid | int(10) | The scale used to measure the competency | |
proficiencyexpected | int(10) | The expected proficiency for the competency, foreign key to the scale_value table's id | |
timecreated | int(10) | The time when the competency was created | |
timemodified | int(10) | The time when the competency was modified | |
usermodified | int(10) | The userid of the person who last modified the competency |
competency_relations
For tracking relations between competencies.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
description | text | Info about how competencies are related | |
competencyid1 | int(10) | The id of a competency | |
competencyid2 | int(10) | The id of a related competency |
competency_depth
Data for a competency depth level.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
shortname | varchar(255) | Shortname for the depth level | |
fullname | varchar(255) | Full name for the depth level | |
description | text | Description for the depth level | |
level | int(2) | The actual depth level, starting at 0 |
competency_depth_info_field
Data for a competency depth level field.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
shortname | varchar(255) | Shortname for the field | |
fullname | text | Full name for the field | |
depthid | int(10) | The id of the competency depth for the field. Foreign key to the competency_depth table's id | |
datatype | varchar(255) | The type of field data | |
description | text | Description of the field | |
categoryid | int(10) | The id for the field category. Foreign key to the competency_depth_info_category table's id field | |
sortorder | int(10) | The sort order for the field within its category | |
hidden | int(1) | The field should be hidden | |
required | int(1) | The field required | |
defaultdata | text | Default text for the selected parameter | |
param1 | text | Parameter text | |
param2 | text | Parameter text | |
param3 | text | Parameter text | |
param4 | text | Parameter text | |
param5 | text | Parameter text |
competency_depth_info_category
A competency's depth level can have categories for its fields.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
name | varchar(255) | Shortname for the depth level category | |
sortorder | int(10) | The order number for this category |
competency_depth_info_data
Data for a depth level field.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
fieldid | int(10) | The id for the field | |
competencyid | int(10) | The id for the competency | |
data | text | The actual data for the competency field |
competency_evidence_items
A competency can be achieved by one or more forms of evidence.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | Auto incrementing | |
competencyid | int(10) | The id for the competency that this evidence describes | |
itemtype | varchar(30) | The type of evidence 'course/outcome', 'mod/outcome', 'course/completion', 'mod/completion', 'course/grade', 'mod/grade', 'file' | |
itemmodule | varchar(30) | The type of evidence 'quiz', 'scorm', etc | |
iteminstance | int(10) | The id for the evidence instance (ie, grade_outcome id, course id, course_modules id, grade_item id, files id) | |
weight | num(10) | The weight applied to this evidence item (for aggregation) | |
timecreated | int(10) | The time when this competency evidence was allowed | |
timemodified | int(10) | The time when this competency evidence was last changed | |
usermodified | int(10) | The user who last modified this evidence |
competency_evidence
Track historical and current competency information for each user.
Field | Type | Default | Info |
id | int(10) | auto-incrementing | |
userid | int(10) | The id of the user | |
competencyid | int(10) | The id of the competency | |
proficiencymeasured | int(10) | The measured/evaluated proficiency level for the user | |
timecreated | int(10) | The time when this competency evidence was started | |
timemodified | int(10) | The time when this competency evidence was last changed |
Plugin architecture
Competency evidence type plugins
Each type of evidence will need its own methods for interacting with the competency architecture and will need to interact via a base competency evidence API. Below are the item types.
- Course completion
- Course grade
- Course outcome
- Activity completion
- Activity grade
- Activity outcome
- File
Report plugins
Similar to the gradebook, we need to allow development of report plugins for competencies.
Import/Export plugins
We need to be able to import and export data related to competencies.
Competency framework import/export A competency framework should be able to be exported using an appropriate format in either xml and csv file format. There are some standards on exchanging competencies including:
- IEEE P1484.20.1 Standard on Reusable Competency Definitions and the IEEE Draft Standard on Simple Reusable Competency Map
- ISO/IEC PDTR 24763 Conceptual Reference Model for Competencies and Related Objects
Competency evidence import/export
There are a variety of standards for exchanging competencies evidence including:
- IMS Reusable Definition of Competency or Educational Objectives Spec (RDCEO)
- IMS Learner Information Package Spec (LIP)
- HR-XML Competencies (Measurable Characteristics) Recommendation, 2007 April 15
IMS RDCEO and LIP recommend formats as shown in the examples below (more IMS RDCEO here and IMS LIP home). Special thanks to Sarveswaran Kengatharaiyer (GSOC 2008 student for the Moodle Progress Tracker project) who developed these examples.
rdceo.identifier = rdceo434323 rdceo.title = Identify verbs in simple sentences rdceo.description = “Identify verbs in simple sentences” rdceo.definition.statement. statementid = 123 statementname = Always statementtext = Scale statementtoken = scl55435 rdceo.definition.statement. statementid = 124 statementname = Never statementtext = Scale statementtoken = scl55436 rdceo.definition.statement. statementid = 125 statementname = Sometimes statementtext = Scale statementtoken = scl55437 lip.contenttype.referencial.sourceid.id = jenney_profile lip.identification.cotenttype.referential.indexid = id123 lip.identification.name.partname.typename=Jenny lip.competency cotenttype.referential.indexid = j123 exrefrecord = rdceo434323 description = Always
HR-XML recommends a format like shown below in an example which uses recursive competencies (more here).
<Competency name="Communication Skills"> <Competency name="Written Communication Skills"> <CompetencyEvidence name="WRITTENTEST1-A" dateOfIncident="1995-01-01" lastUsed="2000-01-01"> <NumericValue minValue="3" maxValue="5" description="SEP-equivalent Skill-Level Range">5</NumericValue> </CompetencyEvidence> <CompetencyWeight> <NumericValue minValue="0" maxValue="100">35</NumericValue> </CompetencyWeight> </Competency> <Competency name="Oral Communication Skills"> <CompetencyEvidence name="ManagerObservation" dateOfIncident="1996-01-01" lastUsed="2000-01-01"> <NumericValue minValue="1" maxValue="5" description="Company XYZ Skill Range">5</NumericValue> </CompetencyEvidence> <CompetencyWeight> <NumericValue minValue="0" maxValue="100">65</NumericValue> </CompetencyWeight> </Competency> </Competency>
Logging
All competency related changes should be logged in history tables.
Role capabilities and permissions
Description | Capability |
View competency competencies | moodle/competency:viewcompetencies |
View hidden competencies | moodle/competency:viewhiddencompetencies |
Manage competencies | moodle/competency:managecompetencies |
Ideas for the future
- Due dates for course completions and outcome completions can be assigned in an individual user's learning plan.
- A comment can be added to a user's learning plan item when a course or outcome is manually added or removed from it.
- Allowing competencies to be attached to an individual user (either by user profile field or by drag and drop).
- Allow competencies to be tagged (in a folksonomy) using Moodle's tag/lib.