Purpose: This research aims to explore stakeholder perspectives on Ethiopia's occupational competency assessment and certification systems. Design/methodology/approach: The study utilized a mixed-methods strategy within a concurrent embedded design and adopted a pragmatic perspective. Data collection involved questionnaires, interviews, and focus…

Background: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have touted the idea of democratizing education, but soon enough, this utopian idea collided with the reality of finding sustainable business models. In addition, the promise of harnessing interactive and social web technologies to promote meaningful learning was only partially successful. And…

Introduction: The Health Education Specialist Practice Analysis II 2020 (HESPA II 2020) described the contemporary practice of health education specialists across work settings at entry and advanced levels. The purpose of the HESPA II 2020 manuscript was to report the research process and resulting data associated with the HESPA II 2020 and to…

Certification is often viewed to promote lifelong professional development. Industry accreditation agencies include standards for the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) that emphasize the measurement or promotion of continued competency throughout an individual's professional career. In 2013, NBCOT partnered with BreakAway Games to create the…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how one profession used an "experience documentation process" to grant advanced certification to qualified certified health education specialists. The competency validation process approved by the certifying organization serves as an example of an additional method, aside from traditional…

Digital badges are an educational innovation used to measure learning of specific skills, such as information literacy. However, few studies have quantitatively surveyed employers for their perceptions about information literacy skills or digital badges. An online survey was developed and sent to employers to gauge perceptions of information…

The current system of continuing medical education, maintenance of certification, and renewal of medical licenses can be quite burdensome and inefficient for all practicing physicians: medical doctors (M.D.s) and doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.s). D.O.s have opportunities for residency training and specialty certification which are not…

Western Governors University was conceptualized in 1995 at a meeting of the Western Governors Association, and founded soon after in an effort to increase degree production in higher education at a lower cost. It has expanded significantly over the past few years, driven both by increased demand for online education and by drastic state budget…

Introduction: Limited information exists to describe physicians who return to practice after absences from patient care. The Center for Personalized Education for Physicians (CPEP) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides clinical competency assessment and educational programs for physicians, including those reentering…

Background: To improve global health, the workforce capacity of health promotion professionals must be strengthened through the provision of competencies necessary to deliver effective programs. Purpose: This study provides an updated analysis of the validity of the worksite health promotion (WHP) professional competencies developed in 2000 by the…

The authors discuss why certification examinations for park, recreation, and leisure professionals are needed and highlight specific concerns now being addressed by the Test Development Management Committee of the National Recreation and Park Association. (MT)

Setting standards for the purpose of certification is frequently performed using judgmental techniques such as the Angoff method. This study was performed to identify types of items that judges find hard to rate accurately, that is, types of items on which examinees perform differently than predicted by the judges. Once identified these item types…

Specific steps for applying the Angoff method are described. In the Angoff method, judges are asked to estimate the probabilities of minimally competent candidates' answering multiple choice test items correctly. Initial information must be obtained for designing the standard-setting process, beginning with the purpose of the examination and any…

Three studies assessed the psychometric characteristics of the Direct Standard Setting Method (DSSM). The Angoff technique was also used in each study. The DSSM requires judges to consider an examination 10 items at a time and determine the minimum items in that set a candidate should answer correctly to receive the credential. Nine judges set a…

The licensing body in British Columbia, the College of Pharmacists, has initiated a program of competency assessment to help define educational needs and to provide a basis for licensure renewal. The development and implementation of the first assessment conducted during 1977-78 is described. (Author/MLW)