Sharing a competency with other org units

A competency can only be shared with org units beneath the one in which it is created. For example, if you create a competency inside the English Department org unit, you cannot share it with a course offering inside the Math Department. Competencies created in course offerings cannot be shared because course offerings are always at the bottom of the organization hierarchy (there are no other org units beneath them).

When you share a competency across multiple org units, users can complete the competency and its associated learning objectives in different org units; no matter which org unit a user completes a learning objective in, it is the same learning objective everywhere, and once it is completed in one org unit, it is completed in all the others. The same holds true of the competency itself.

Because users can complete individual learning objectives in each org unit where a competency is available, they can work towards the completion of the competency gradually by completing individual learning objectives as they enroll in different course offerings.

When a competency is shared, only the definition becomes available in each org unit. (A competency’s definition is everything in the competency structure except activities.) Each org unit can associate its own activities with the shared learning objectives.

Some org units might not associate activities with a given learning objective at all. For example, if you had a large-scale Mathematics competency, a learning objective related to arithmetic might be assessed in one course offering, while a learning objective related to algebra might be assessed in another. By sharing a competency, you can let each course offering assess only those learning objectives relevant to their curriculum.

As long as users complete all the activities associated with a learning objective within a single org unit, they complete the learning objective everywhere. (You cannot complete parts of a learning objective by completing some activities here and some there.)

Share a competency

1. Click Competencies on the navbar.
2. On the Competency List page, click the competency’s name to open the Edit Competency page.
3. On the Edit page, in the Make Competency Available To section, click Add Org Units.
4. Select the org unit you want to share the competency with. (For example, if you want to share it with all departments in the Arts faculty, select the Arts faculty.)

   If you need to, you can search for the org unit.

5. Choose an option from the Options column (if available):
   • This Org Unit shares the competency with the selected org unit itself (for example, the English department).
   • All Descendants shares the competency with all org units beneath the selected org unit in the organization hierarchy (for example, all org units beneath the Arts faculty, including departments, course templates, and course offerings).
   • All descendants of type shares the competency with org units of the selected type beneath the selected org unit (for example, all course offerings beneath the Arts faculty).

   Note For course offerings, there are no options in the Options column because course offerings are at the bottom of the hierarchy and have no descendants.

6. Click Insert then Save.

Stop sharing a competency

1. On the Edit page, in the Make Competency Available To section, clear the check box for the org unit or set of org units you no longer want to share this competency with.
2. Click Save.