In Chapter 3, Rollout Products and Services with Moodle, we looked at using Moodle to help build product knowledge among staff. Outcomes can be used to help map the product knowledge of your staff as it is acquired. To do this, you will need to think about what Outcomes you are looking to map in each learning area. Some professions have gone through extensive processes and research to help define a set of competencies which can be applied to their industry.
However, when it comes to products rather than skills you do need to think about the definition and come up with a set of Outcomes that you want people to be able to do after the training. These may be different for each profession and role, and often can go down to great detail. However, you do need to consider what level of detail is practical for training and assessment.
After product training, you may want someone to be able to:
- Describe the product
- Explain what the product can be used for
- Explain what are the benefits of the product
- Understand what are the Unique Selling Points of the product
- Explain the sales process for the product
- Explain the support options available
- Explain the pricing structure and payment terms
These can be viewed as Outcomes for pretty much any product, so to have Outcomes related to a product, it must be specific. So, using the product example from Chapter 3, Rollout Products and Services with Moodle, let's redo these options making them specific:
Now that these are clear, you can think about how you would assess these Outcomes.
However, if you were to search through Moodle, you would not find competencies. The feature is there but it is called Outcomes, which is synonymous with competencies and goals. This is an advanced feature which needs to be enabled by administrators. Moodle defines Outcomes as:
"Outcomes are specific descriptions of what a student is expected to be able to do or understand at the completion of an activity or course."
This definition is certainly close enough to the usual competency understanding, so it can be used in a similar way.
Once the Outcomes function is enabled in Moodle, you are then able to grade activities using one or more scales that are linked to the Outcomes.
In this chapter, we shall:
- Learn how to enable Outcomes for use in competency tracking throughout the Moodle site
- Learn how to create site-wide competencies/Outcomes
- Learn how to import/export competencies/Outcomes
- Learn how to select competencies for a specific course
- Learn how to add extra competencies at a course/module level
- Learn how to use competencies in assessments
- Learn how to view competencies in the gradebook
So let's get on with the show.
As already discussed, Moodle calls competencies by a different name—Outcomes. So from here onwards, we will stick to the Moodle terminology in this chapter. However, do remember they are equivalent.
It is important to note that there is no hierarchy to the Outcomes within Moodle. It's a flat list. Other systems like ELIS from Remote-Learner provide tree options. However, without that, you need to be careful how you name your Outcomes.
To help you navigate a long list, I recommend inverting the preceding examples. So instead of Describe Mahara, use Mahara Description so that all the Mahara Outcomes come at M in the list, rather than spread out at each point like at D for description and so on.
- Describe Mahara
- Describe Moodle
- Explain benefits Mahara
- Explain benefits Moodle
- Explain Mahara Use
- Explain Moodle Use
If you order it, as suggested, reversing with product first you get:
- Mahara Benefits
- Mahara Description
- Mahara Uses
- Moodle Benefits
- Moodle Description
- Moodle Uses
As you can see, you can easily find the correct Outcomes now. This can be annoying at first, but you will soon become familiar with it.
In previous chapters, we have touched on setting up a quiz and other activities, so we won't be covering this during the rest of this chapter. We will focus on applying the settings related to Outcomes and how they impact setup.
The sample course outline will be available throughout 2011 for all purchasers of the book on http://www.moodleforbusiness.com/
Tip
Using Moodle for continual professional development
Helping staff to maintain, improve, and widen their skills and their knowledge, more often than not, falls into the lap of the employer. The capability to demonstrate a skill is usually referred to as a competency. This chapter will focus on some techniques of using Moodle to define competencies and use them to aid tracking of continual professional development.