Competences Working Group

This group was set up in 2009.

Rationale
The topic of competences -- under various names -- has a rising profile for learning technology, as people make another attempt to relate learning to what it is aimed at -- the intended learning outcomes.

For example, several e-portfolio tools are designed to allow people -- learners -- to track their progress against particular objective, and to manage evidence for their attainment. For best value in many ways, it is important that frameworks (under whatever name) of competences (under whatever name) can be plugged in and out of the tools that allow learners to manage their learning with them as objectives. This is true not only for e-portfolio tools, but to some extent for e-learning systems, talent management HR systems, and e-assessment systems.

Objectives

 * We want to investigate the need for a specification, which would enable frameworks of skill or competence
 * to be decoupled from information systems and tools
 * to be represented in a portable format
 * We want to investigate and coordinate with other initiatives in this area
 * If it seems appropriate, we can follow in the footsteps of XCRI and LEAP2A in leading a community-driven specification effort, resulting in a working spec.

Events
2nd annual meeting of the European Competency SIG, in co-laboration with the ICOPER project -- 1st December 2009, Berlin
 * Competences for learning, assessment and portfolio 1st July 2009, Manchester
 * Session in the CETIS Conference, 2009 : Reconstructing the Competence Maze
 * Skills and Competencies – towards a common model to guide the next new work items for standardisation
 * Possible event in July or August 2010, investigating existing competence frameworks and examples and requirements from systems that already use them.

Resources

 * We have a mailing list -- skill-competence@jiscmail.ac.uk
 * We share some wiki space with European colleagues
 * We will produce a set of pages on Competency Resources and Information - under construction

CETIS Contacts

 * Simon Grant
 * Rowin Young
 * Scott Wilson
 * Phil Barker

Other participants
Initially, the other participants may only be defined by those contributing to the mailing list or wiki. However, when more defined work starts, there are likely to be particular people who may be willing to be listed here.