Competency vs. learning
From The Learning Engineer's Knowledgebase
Competency versus learning is a small debate in the evaluation phase of design that considers whether a product should investigate whether a person is competent after an educational experience or whether they learned from the experience. These two terms are similar, but have important differences based on the research questions being asked.
Definition
Competency is the degree to which a person can perform skills or demonstrate knowledge. Competency is frequently measured and compared to criteria that determine whether the demonstrated skills and knowledge are at a high enough level to be deemed "competent". Within an educational product, a learning objective can be stated as achieved if the learner can demonstrate a high enough level of competency with the objective after using the product to satisfy the evaluation and design team.
Learning is the change in competency over time at performing skills and demonstrating knowledge. Learning is a process of change over time, and requires at least two time points to measure and analyze whether learning occurred (usually before and after a learning experience). Competency is measured multiple times and the results are analyzed to determine if learning happened as a result of participating in the learning experience.
Additional Information
The difference between the two concepts of learning and competency matters to measurement as they measure two different things. In competency, a person's skills and knowledge at one specific time are measured and compared to criteria of what determines someone to be competent. In learning, a person is being evaluated for changes in competency over time. Learning is any positive change that occurs in competency as a result of participating in a learning experience.
Whether learning or competency is evaluated matters is typically important to individuals who are making decisions about investments of time or money for which educational products to implement. For instance, teachers regularly choose products to help their classes achieve specific learning outcomes. A teacher would want to make the best choice at helping their students achieve the learning outcomes, which would be the product that demonstrates the highest degree of learning output for those who use it.
Lessons for designers
It is often better to measure learning when possible instead of just competency at the end of an educational experience, as a study on learning effectiveness captures competency automatically by nature of having the participant demonstrate their competency at different time points. To this end, if possible within the evaluation plan, a simple pre post research design that measures competency twice can reveal changes to a participant, or indicate that a person learned.
However, measuring learning is not always feasible in most designs. The measurement of learning requires evaluators to collect data/evidence about a person's prior abilities and knowledge before they start the experience to know what to compare their post-participation skills. As learning is a process of change, evaluation of learning needs at the least a pre and post analysis design to identify the change between a person's before and after participation skills and knowledge.
Measuring learning also runs afoul of how most school systems evaluate student performance. Letter grades in both K-12 and higher education are based on the idea of competence, or that a learner has demonstrated the necessary skills and knowledge required to gain grades and degrees. A student who demonstrates high level of skill at the end of a class will receive an A, and those who pass all their classes with competency will receive a degree. Thus, school systems do not typically incentivize the evaluation of students based on their learning. Additionally, a learning-based evaluation for students may not align well with or be fair to students who depend on high competency grades to move on to the next level of education, receive jobs and scholarships, and demonstrate their strength with the content.
Tips and Tricks
- The two systems of measuring learning and measuring competency are sometimes incompatible. However, when learning is measured, so is competency by default. When considering grading, a learner's competency should likely be used to assign the grade, as it aligns better with what the global education grading system measures. However, by also measuring learning, additional claims about the effectiveness of an educational product can be made.
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