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Combining a certification approach with freedom to complete at any time

Hello all,

We've just written some online learning to cover a topic previously delivered face to face by an external provider - attendance of which was recorded on our learning platform via RPL upload.

Learners have to retake the course at regular intervals, so we now want to set this up as a certification.

However, given the change to the content, we want to give all colleagues the opportunity to retake the course whilst it's fresh, without making this compulsory.

Is there a way to allow learners the freedom to update their learning at a time to suit them, but still within the bounds of certification and recertification? Or - to put it another way - "you can complete this learning as often as you like, but definitely every three years as a minimum - and we'll remind you of this if necessary"

All ideas welcome...

Thanks,

Ian

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Link a badge to the course and make the badge expire after the period set by the certification?

I'm sure there are better approaches - this one is the first that came to mind.

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Thanks Antonio, suggestion much appreciated.

Badges isn't something we've found time to explore yet, and I'm conscious that it'd be a whole new experience for learners (!) - but I'll definitely talk this through with my team.

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I would just suggest a certification with a short period between completion and being able to refresh. In our case, we allow re-certification any time after the first month so that staff who want to update before their due date (1 year, 3 years, etc.) can. The only consideration then is your automated messages might need to be based on how close someone is to expiry rather than when the refresh window opens.

Dan

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Thanks for this suggestion Dan,

Unfortunately it's prompted a supplementary question: if you are (in effect) opening the window 11 months before their due date, does that not remove the existing completion data from the user's learning log?

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Hi Ian.

Their course completion records will be reset when the recertification window opens, but the certification itself remains 'Certified' until the expiry date. The course completion records are moved into the course completion history table, so you've still got a record that they were completed.

Nathan

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No ideas - just wanted to add that I feel your pain as we're in a similar boat I think - Our company has a lot of courses that have "industry recommendations" to be refreshed every so often, but it's not mandated so we don't use certifications for these. Some areas like to make their staff do the course again, some don't - those that do refresh want their course completion dates to be updated and that's where we run into trouble.

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