Welcome

The mission of the MedBiquitous Competencies Working Group is to develop XML standards and supporting guidelines for competency data enabling educational resources, activities and assessments to be tied to a competency framework.

Welcome

Welcome to the knowledgebase entry for the Competency Framework and Object Standards. We use this space to maintain communication and enable access to CWG documents between working group teleconferences. The working group is open to any member of MedBiquitous who has an interest in the theory or implementation of competencies and competency-based education. Feel free to contact us for more information about the group or joining 

If you have questions about the MedBiquitous Competency Framework & Object, please email medbiq@aamc.org.

Note: If you are looking for information on the Performance Framework standard, please visit this space instead.

Executive Summary

The Competency Working Group spent its first year discussing the theoretical foundations of competencies and competency-based education, and investigating how competencies are different than related notions of outcome-based education, objectives, performance, etc. Extensive variation was found among the definitions and implementations of these models. It was decided that the group would be best to develop a specification that facilitates the implementation of any of these models. It seemed that far more value could be achieved by facilitating the exchange and implementation of competency and competency-like information, than than attempt to standardize and enforce any particular model.

The following year was spent investigating the current practices related to competencies being implemented in health care education. Firstly, we discussed the practical rationale for competencies and visions for their uses, which led to the description of a number of use cases. Secondly, we analyzed a number of established national and international competency/outcome frameworks in health care education. The results are available on our Examples and Case Studies page. Finally, we conducted a survey of health education organizations to determine the current state of competency implementation and what functionalities the specification should support.

Using this information as a basis, the group has since developed a conceptual model for its specification, which has come to be called the MedBiquitous Competency Environment. The model, in its present form, is based on a node-and-link representation of Competencies and related data. It it meant to accommodate not only Competencies per se, but also related models such as learning outcomes, performance standards, learning obejctives, etc.

The group has developed a technical specification for Competency Objects and for Competency Frameworks.  We are now focusing on the development of a technical specification for Performance Frameworks, which includes the concept of developmental milestones in the progression towards competence and expertise. A draft specification and XML schema for the performance framework are available.

Communication

The primary means of discussion for the CWG is by teleconference, which occur twice a month and last 1 hour. The schedule of calls is available on the meetings page. Working group members can access the discussion list archives for the working group or send an email to the list at competencies@medbiq.org.