About the toolkit

Through this toolkit, eCampusOntario is developing the foundation, structure and tools to support the iterative development of open competency frameworks. If this is done well, it will pave the way for much more consistent and efficient work in this area for years to come. The result? Increased efficiency in both time and cost for others building common competency frameworks across in-demand industry sectors.

A major challenge that comes with developing competency frameworks across multiple industry sectors is ensuring that a common language and tools exist for the development of complementary competency libraries that are open, shared, and scalable. The language that is used in different sectors to describe the same skills or similar work activities varies, and industry sectors or occupational groups (such as professional associations) often develop their competency frameworks in silos. Duplication of effort and lack of transferability become stumbling blocks.

Compounding this are issues that persist with many sets of existing competency frameworks and occupational standards. These include lagging content development and revision cycles, misalignment between standards and assessment tools, and reliance on very small groups of people during input and validation processes. Often this stems from a combination of factors, but it is something that can be addressed by a well thought out and methodical approach to developing competency definitions and frameworks. This toolkit is intended to help address these issues.

In addition to supporting well-constructed competency frameworks, this toolkit is also intended to increase the openness of competency frameworks. By open, we mean that resources, tools and practices are free of legal, financial, and technical barriers and can be fully used, shared and adapted in the digital environment.

This toolkit was developed using a design and validation process that includes contact with both industry and education, in order to develop relationships that will support the socialization of the resources upon completion.

The toolkit is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license ^[1], and is intended to be shared and revised. As we will explore within the various sections of the toolkit, competency frameworks and the tools that are used to develop them need to be fluid, living, and breathing documents that can adapt to change and evolve over time.