Employee Badging and Certification Project underway
The Badging and Certification Project will provide on-the-job professional development paths for Ohio University employees through new learning opportunities recorded in Blackboard. The project team expects the first badges and certificates to be available in Summer 2018, with the full program launching during the 2018-2019 academic year.
In 2017, University Human Resources spearheaded an effort to develop OHIO’s Competency Training Framework (CTF) to document knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for success in several types of positions throughout the University. All planning units were invited to participate in this effort, and more than 115 employees ultimately provided input through focus group discussions and personal interviews.
As a result, six primary roles, or types of positions, have been identified, and a competency dictionary with detailed information about the knowledge, skills and behaviors required for success in each role will be available on the Human Resources website in February 2018. This dictionary will serve as a key resource to support the new performance management process and guide individual development efforts by defining and clarifying behaviors that lead to effective performance. It will also serve as a starting point for the creation of new professional development opportunities in 2018 and beyond.
A gap analysis is also underway to compare the critical knowledge, skills and behaviors (success factors) for each role to the learning experiences currently available at the University. Success factors that are not supported by existing learning opportunities are being identified and mapped to new learning experiences. In addition, employees and their supervisors will be encouraged to use the competency dictionary to identify on-the-job development opportunities and have more frequent development discussions within their own departments.
The Badging and Certification Project will leverage Blackboard to support the implementation of the CTF and track the resulting new learning experiences. Blackboard will keep a record of employee learning experiences, including instructor-led and online interactive experiences. This will allow employees to track and demonstrate their OHIO employee learning experiences through one system.
As the implementation of Blackboard and the introduction of competencies through CTF progresses, University Human Resources will introduce a Badging and Certification program for University employees. A work group representing the interests of campus kicked off in January.
For questions or additional information, please email professionaldevelopment@ohio.edu.