Certification Program Development
Educational institutions like colleges, universities and training companies typically lag behind current developments and emerging technologies in the online industry. Developing a curriculum that truly meets the requirements of the job market and keeping it up-to-date is very time-consuming and expensive, especially since cycles of innovation in the online industry are very short, and continue to grow ever shorter from year to year.
In order to develop and maintain a top-notch curriculum in the face of these challenges, the WPI brings together professionals who are current experts not just in the online industry, but also in teaching. In addition, our unique methodology based on in-depth market research also ensures our curricula are continuously improved and are always up-to-date.
Our program development process consists of the following stages:
Our process of developing, updating and expanding curricula begins with research studies which examine the job market.
We use special custom software which retrieves job ads on a constant basis, searching on numerous keywords which relate to both job titles (e.g. web designer, web developer, web administrator, webmaster, online marketing manager) and to skills (e.g. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, PHP, Laravel) This process also allows us to uncover job titles which have been introduced just recently (e.g. “content marketing manager”).
We then evaluate the job data we collected, first performing a quantitative analysis which counts up the number of job ads we found, in order to reveal changes over time in the demand for specific job roles and skills. We also carry out a qualitative analysis which maps skill sets to job titles.
Finally, we use our results to compile skill set profiles for each job title we found, so that eventually we’re able to map job titles to skill sets.
When developing a training and certification curriculum that truly meets the demands of the job market, it’s neither advisable nor feasible to try to cover every single technology, skill, and other aspect extracted from the job title/skill analysis.
As a matter of fact, the development process must focus on a subset of those skills which are commonly sought by employers and whose demand can be expected to remain stable in upcoming years. Such an approach is essential especially since every unit of learning (whether class, module, certificate or degree) requires a certain amount of time to complete, and it wouldn’t make sense to teach techniques which already become obsolete by the time a student has finished his/her training.
In the next step of our curriculum development process, we present our selected skills to the WPI's Expert Advisory Board (EAB) for discussion, then determine the learning objectives for our training and certification program.
After we identify the corresponding disciplines and topics, we then develop the syllabus. We take a practical approach to creating syllabi, and set task-specific, interdisciplinary learning objectives which are concrete and focus on what an exam candidate should be able to accomplish or perform rather than simply »know« upon completion of the course.
Our learning experts then use the syllabus as a basis for developing a modular training program which has a coherent structure and is easy to follow, after which WPI course developers create learning content, then meet with our exam experts to formulate exam questions as well as tasks for the practical section of exams.
This methodology makes it possible for us to ensure that
Our learning material covers each topic thoroughly and is up-to-date
It reflects current didactic methods
It meets employer needs and
Our certification exams yield meaningful results
Another important task for our curriculum development team is to divide disciplines into courses which correspond to a certification, then on this basis to develop a modular training and certification concept.
The main advantage of this modular approach is its flexibility – students can choose just those disciplines/modules which correspond to their learning needs, saving time and money not only for students, but also for employers.
This modular approach also benefits our partner educational institutions, who have the freedom to offer training ranging from short courses in very specific subjects to comprehensive degree programs.
We then compile comprehensive study material and courses on the basis of the curriculum we developed, which range from text material, exercises and assignments, through code listings and case studies, up to videos, screencasts and more.
The last step in the curriculum development process is to prepare certification exams, which are intended to determine whether a candidate for certification has met the given learning objectives, and thus meets the requirements for certification.
All WPI certification exams are developed in accordance with proven standards and techniques used by all major IT certification bodies, and consist of practical exercises graded by qualified examiners plus automated online tests.
Test items are prepared by a group of subject matter experts (SME) who are experienced professionals specially trained to develop items for certification exams so that they are
correct in form and content,
clear and unambiguous,
relevant with respect to learning objectives, and
of adequate difficulty.
Test items must be appropriately worded and clear to understand. In the case of multiple-choice items, all wrong answers must be plausible so that correct answer(s) cannot be easily guessed (this is known as »appropriateness of distractors«).
Each test item is peer-reviewed by at least two experts, in accordance with the standard used for publishing scientific papers. The review results in each test item either being accepted, rejected, or returned to the item writer for revision.
Finally, we compile an item bank for each exam so that we can create individual exams.
We statistically analyze exam results, and our psychometrists (experts who test and measure mental capacity) use the results of the analysis to identify test items which require improvement (e.g. a question which was answered are either correctly or incorrectly by all students).
We also use statistical methods to uncover dependencies between questions, especially those which may be undesirable in terms of testing (e.g. if the correct answer for one question appears in another question).
This statistical approach ensures that our certification exams are valid, fair, appropriate to the given subject matter and reflect the needs of both web professionals and employers in the online industry.