An introduction to the outcome-based, data-driven learning methodology that's creating more effective and agile training and enablement programs.
An introduction to the outcome-based, data-driven learning methodology that's creating more effective and agile training and enablement programs.
The required skill sets for jobs have changed by 25% since 2015 and that number is expected to double to 50% by 20271, yet most organizations still lack a way to measure training effectiveness at the skill level. Today’s tech landscape demands outcome-based training and enablement programs that align to business needs. These programs must be designed to produce measurable, validated performance within an organization’s most critical skills.
Whether you’re building medium-stakes job readiness programs or high-stakes certification exams, read on to learn more about using hands-on, performance-based experiences across your training ecosystem to build safe practice spaces, provide real-time feedback and generate high-fidelity, actionable skill data with skill validation.
Jump ahead
What is skill validation?
Skill validation is the process of assessing, verifying and documenting an individual’s ability to reliably drive specific business outcomes. Learners demonstrate their skills by completing aligned tasks or driving outcomes within real-world scenarios.Put simply, skill validation is the act of verifying that someone has the ability to perform a task or series of tasks.
With Skillable, skill validation isn’t an afterthought, it’s a core capability of the platform – allowing learning and validation to happen in one seamless environment.
A key component of skill validation versus traditional assessments is defining the performance and tasks that go into validating a skill. This is a challenging, but critical part of the process that starts with task intelligence. By defining the tasks required to meet your business objectives, you can better identify the skills needed to perform those tasks.
Another challenge many organizations face is identifying tasks and skills, but never finding a meaningful way to measure and validate those skills. That’s why organizations who are taking skills seriously need concrete ways to evaluate beyond knowledge and capture performance via skill validation.
How can you validate skills with virtual labs?
At Skillable, we refer to our validation methods as lab scoring – a term that encompasses the different ways you can assess a learner’s performance inside a lab. Whether scoring is driven by scripts, AI or embedded questions, the goal is the same: generate objective, hands-on proof of capability.
Skillable facilitates validation and scoring workflows within labs by using two distinct activity types:
- Knowledge-based activities – Use embedded questions and item banks – like multiple choice, true/false and short answer – directly within the lab experience to check knowledge and understanding.
- Performance-based activities – Evaluate users objectively based on their actions in the lab environment, using one of the following scoring methods:
- Scoring scripts – Validate lab outcomes based on environment state, task completion and code accuracy.
- Embedded questions – Challenge the users to solve a problem and ask them questions about how they solved it to determine if they did it correctly.
- Vision Activities – Use AI to analyze the user’s environment and automatically score lab performance based on visual evidence.
How is technical skill validation possible at scale? Activity group scoring.
Activity Group Scoring provides a structured way to organize multiple related activities into one group – allowing you to assess and apply a score to a group of activities instead of individually.
For example, if you want to validate a network configuration skill, you may need a user to prove they can complete several tasks to validate that skill. Those tasks might come from a Job Task Analysis, a job description or another record. Those tasks – in this case Implement Azure virtual network routing, Implement Azure security groups, Configure Azure virtual network peering and Monitor and optimize network resource usage – might comprise several activities. Using activity group scoring, each of those business-level tasks can be evaluated as an activity group.
Example of how Activities can be grouped by tasks to evaluate a specific skill – in this instance, Network Configuration – using evidence-based skill data. Learn more about activity group scoring.
Are you wasting time and money on ineffective training?
Find out in our research brief on IT training preferences and accelerating job readiness.
Validated learning use cases: From practice to high-stakes exams
Organizations use Skillable to validate skills across a wide range of scenarios:
Embedded knowledge checks
Check knowledge and understanding with items like multiple choice, true/false and short answer questions embedded directly within the lab experience.
Self-paced exams
Hands-on practice in a risk-free environment that provides guidance and real-time tailored feedback helps learners improve at their own pace.
Certification prep
Safe practice environments and real-time feedback enables certification candidates to focus on areas for improvement, hone their skills and get to the exam readiness stage faster.
Job readiness
Validate skills across your training ecosystem, including technical sales enablement, end-user training, customer support and upskilling technical staff, partners and customers.
Performance-based testing (PBT) and certification exams
Take certifications from “proof of knowledge” to “proof of skill” by allowing certification candidates to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities in realistic environments.
Get actionable data and insights from skill validation activities
The core value of skill validation lies in the data it generates. Skillable provides robust insights to measure performance and track skill development:
- Pass/Fail & Completion – Did the learner complete the lab or task?
- Scoring – How effectively did they meet the objective?
You can also tag specific skills to labs within the Skillable platform – enabling skill-level data reporting at scale.
Skillable’s end-of-lab score reports provide learner-specific feedback and recommended areas for improvement while L&D teams, managers and training professionals can analyze organization-specific skill data at scale. This is just one example of what’s possible on Skillable’s platform.
Tired of manually scoring training labs and exams?
With Skillable, you can automate it!
See how in a live demo.
Customer examples of skill validation
As a result of a business acquisition, Quest needed to figure out how to reskill and certify more than 1,000 partners and then validate that they’re job ready while increasing sales velocity in less than 12 months.
Learn more about how Quest Software uses skill validation.
In response to the rapidly changing cybersecurity industry, Comtech, a telecommunication company, designed a training program with validated skill development. Their strategy included using hands-on training labs that were designed from real-world security threats and tailored learning journeys with built-in feedback.
The approach resulted in 90 to 95% of Comtech’s learners showing real-world proficiency in identifying and preventing cybersecurity threats.
Learn more in the Comtech case study.
Skillable is an amazing platform that offers an interactive and hands-on learning experience.
What I like best about Skillable is its ability to provide realistic learning environments where users can apply their knowledge and skills in real-world scenarios. This not only enhances knowledge retention but also prepares users to confidently tackle professional challenges.
Ready to truly measure technical readiness?
Start validating skills at scale with performance-based hands-on learning experiences. Let us show you what’s possible.
Additional skill validation FAQs
1. How is skill validation different from traditional assessment methods?
The key differences between skill validation and traditional assessment methods used in exams and certifications are:
- Hands-on, performance-based assessment
- Skill validation focuses on evaluating a person’s ability to actually perform job-relevant tasks and demonstrate their skills in a safe, yet live hands-on, real-world environment. This goes beyond written exams that primarily test knowledge recall and retention.
- Organization/employer-defined competencies
- The skills and competencies being validated are directly defined by the organization based on the specific requirements of a job role. This ensures the assessment is highly relevant and aligned with on-the-job needs.
- Ongoing, iterative process
- Skill validation is the process of evaluating and developing skills, rather than a one-time exam or certification. This allows for continuous upskilling and adaptation to changing job requirements. Certifications help support this by requiring recertification cycles to cover changes between exam sittings.
- Granular for skill data and stackable for credentials
- Validated skills can be awarded as granular, stackable badges/credentials that reflect specific competencies, rather than broad, all-or-nothing certifications. Microsoft is taking this approach with their Applied Skills initiative.
2. What are some common use cases or applications of validated skill development beyond the examples provided (e.g., certifications, job readiness)?
Some additional use cases for validated skill development include:
- Internal talent mobility and career pathing
- Validated skills provide a clear, objective way to assess an employee’s capabilities and map out potential career progression paths within an organization.
- Hiring and candidate screening
- Employers can use validated skills as a reliable indicator of a candidate’s job readiness and fit for a specific role, beyond just their resume or interview performance.
- Contractor/freelancer management
- Validated skills can help organizations vet and manage the competencies of their extended workforce, such as contractors, consultants or gig workers.
3. How can organizations implement a skill validation program effectively, and what are the key steps or best practices involved?
To effectively implement a validated skill development program, organizations should consider the following key steps and best practices:
- Define job-relevant competencies
- Closely collaborate with subject matter experts and hiring managers to clearly define the specific skills and competencies required for key job roles.
- Design hands-on scenarios and assessments
- Develop performance-based assessments that allow individuals to demonstrate their abilities through practical, job-relevant tasks and simulations. Using the challenge-centric learning methodology will help.
- Establish validation workflows
- Establish a structured process for administering assessments, evaluating results and awarding validated skill credentials. Finding ways to automate is critical, such as using scored labs for skill validation.
- Integrate with training and development
- Align the validated skill development program with existing training programs to create a continuous upskilling loop. Tools such as Skillable Connect help organizations streamline and integrate their learning ecosystems with API.
- Leverage data and analytics
- Collect and analyze data on skill gaps, assessment performance and credential attainment to continuously improve the program. For example, Quest Software is now tracking additional training data such as average completion time, average score, number of canceled attempts, problem areas and activities, periods of inactivity, students who skip certain portions of the course, etc.
- Promote validated skills internally and externally
- Communicate the value of validated skills to employees, candidates and the broader industry to drive adoption and recognition. For example, Quest Software’s skill validation program has been so successful that it began a strategic paradigm shift to more automated, scalable and outcome-based learning solutions across multiple business units.
