Overview

The Mastery feature allows you to create skills and competencies, and tie them to the courses and modules that teach them. You can then rate learners knowledge of the skills and competencies using assessments and exams. The platform helps you track learner mastery of individual skills and assess their progress towards mastery of entire programs. The platform also enables you to use the power of AI to create skills and tie them directly to courses.

1. Create or upload skills and competencies.
   
2. Associate skills and competencies with courses and modules.
   
3. Assess skill and competency ratings with assessments and quiz questions.
   
4. Rate skills and competencies with rubrics.
   
5. Track and view user skill and competency progress.
   
6. Utilize coverage analysis to see how well your courses cover the associated skills and competencies.
   

Please note the business platform uses the term 'skills', and the academia platform uses the term 'competencies'. The terms 'skills' and 'competencies' are interchangeable in this article.

Installing the Skills & Mastery app

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click Install on the Skills & Mastery tile in the Advanced learning section of the App center.
   

Adding skills and competencies

After you install the feature from the App center, you can begin adding skills. To add skills:

1. Click Resources from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
3. Click + Add.

The Add resource pop-up displays.

1. Click Skills.
   
1. Academia platform users will click Competencies. 
   

1. Enter a Name for the skill set.
   
1. You will associate individual skills to the skill set in a later step.
2. Enter an optional Code. Codes can help you organize and monitor skills.
   
3. Enter a Description for the skill set.
   
4. Select the library where the skills will be saved.
   
5. Check Get assistance from CYPHER Agent if you would like to utilize CYPHER Agent to create the skill set.
6. Click Save.
   

After saving the skill set, you can start adding individual skills. To add individual skills:

1. Click + Add skills. 
   

1. Click Add using a form to manually add skills using a form.
   
2. Click Import from a file to import skills from a CSV file.
   

Adding skills using a form

If you select Add using a form, you will be asked how many skills to add.

1. Enter the number of skills you would like to create.
   
1. Note - You can add additional skills to the skill set at any time.
2. Click Continue. 
   

Enter the skills information:

1. Enter an optional code and name for the skill.
   
2. Enter a description for the skill.
   
3. Click Save. 
   

Once you have skills associated with the skill set, you can create child skills that will appear nested under the parent skills. To add child skills:

1. Click + Add skills on the skill set page.
   
2. Enter the number of child skills you want to create.
   
3. Select the parent skill in the Structure drop-down.
   
4. Enter the child skill information.
   
5. Click Save. 
   

Adding skills from a file

If you select to import skills from a file, the Import from file page displays. To import your skills:

1. Click + Add file.
   
2. Select your CSV file.
   
3. Click Import.

• Level, code, name, description

where:

• The first cell is the level. The level can be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4... and denotes the indentation in the competency structure.
• The second cell is the skill code. A code is optional.
• The third cell is the skill name. The skill name is optional.
• The fourth cell is the skill description. The description is required.
  

Tip - Do not leave the first row blank.

Managing skills and competencies

To view the skills in your libraries:

1. Click Resources from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Use the Search widget to locate a skill set resource.
   
1. You can search by entering a file name, selecting Skills from the Resource type drop-down menu, and selecting the Library where the skill is saved. 
   
4. Once you have located the skill set, click the Skill set tile.

The skill set pop-up displays with a list of the skills associated with the skill set.

1. Click Details.
   

All skills associated with the skill set display. There are multiple ways to adjust the skills in the skill set:

1. To reorder skills, select them and click the up and down arrows. 
   
2. To change the nesting/hierarchy of skills, select them and click the left and right arrows.
   
3. To delete skills, select them and click the Delete button.
   
4. To add skills, click + Add skills.
   
5. To view an individual skill, click the skill hyperlink.

If you click an individual skill, the skill page will display. To view which courses or modules use the skill:

1. Click the Courses or Modules tab.
   
1. Courses or modules that are associated with the skill display.

If the skill is associated with any course templates, they will also display in the Courses tab. 

1. Course templates are indicated by the template  icon.
   

To view assessments the skill is associated with:

1. Click the Assessments tab.
   
1. Academia platform users will click the Assignments tab. 
   

Export skills

You can easily export all skills in a skill set to a CSV file. To export skills:

1. Click Resources from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Use the Search widget to locate a skill set resource.
   
1. You can search by entering a file name, selecting Skills from the Resource type drop-down menu, and selecting the Library where the skill is saved. 
   
4. Click the Skill set tile.
   
5. Click Export.

The exported CSV file can be used to import skills on another site.

Associating courses with skills

Please note the business platform uses the term 'course', and the academia platform uses the term 'class'. The terms 'course' and 'class' are interchangeable in this article.

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Admin from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click Features from the fly-out menu.
   
4. Select the Mastery checkbox. 
   
1. Please note that if you have Assessments disabled for a course, you must enable them in order to enable the Mastery feature.

To associate a course with a set of skills:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click the Mastery tab.
   
3. Click + Add skills.
   

The Add skills pop-up displays.

1. Select New to add new skills.
   
2. Select Library to select existing skills from a library. 
   

If you select Library, you can select existing skill sets.

1. Use the search filter and library drop-down to locate skill sets.
   
2. Select the set(s) of skills.
   
1. Note - You can associate more than one set of skills with a course.
3. Click Save. 
   

The skills are now associated with the course.

1. Click + Add skills to add additional skills to the course.
   
2. Click the Remove icon to delete a skill set.
   
3. To ignore skills within the skill set, select the skill(s) and click Ignore.
   
1. Ignored skills will not be included in the coverage analysis, will not be displayed as an available skill for modules and assessments, and will not display in the learner view of the course.
4. To include ignored skills, select the skill(s) and click Include.
   
5. To learn more about a skill, select it and click Learn using AI.
   
6. Click directly on a skill to view the skill information page.

If you click directly on a skill, the skill information page displays.

1. The skill name displays, along with any child skills.
   
2. Modules and assessments associated with the skill display in their respective sections. 
   
3. The Rating distribution bar chart shows how learners are rated against the skill.
   
4. The Mapping distribution pie chart displays the breakdown of learners that have Good, Fair, or Poor mastery ratings against the skill.
   

Adding skills to modules and assessments

If you associate a course with a set of skills, you can tag its modules with the skills covered in the module, and add skills to assessments to test a learner's skill rating.

Adding skills to modules and lessons

Please note the business platform uses the term 'module', and the academia platform uses the term 'lesson'. The terms 'module' and 'lesson' are interchangeable in this article.

To tag a module or lesson with skills:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Modules on the course navigation menu.
   
1. Academia users will click Lessons on the class navigation menu.
3. Click a module.
   
4. Click the Set skills tab. If the module already has skills associated with it, click the Skills tab.
   
1. Academia users will click the Set competencies tab. If the lesson already has skills associated with it, click the Competencies tab.

The skills associated with the course will display.

1. Select skills associated with the module.
   
2. Click Save.
   

If skills are already associated with the module, they will display (shown in the screenshot below).

1. Click Edit to edit the skills associated with the module.
   
2. Click Clear to clear the skills from the module.
   

If you click Edit, all skills associated with the course display. 

1. Select the skills that are associated with the module.
   
2. Click Save.
   

On the course Modules page, modules that are associated with skills are indicated with the mastery graph  icon on their tiles.

Adding skills to assessments

Within a course, you can add skills to assessments and exams to assess a learner's skill level.

Please note the business platform uses the term 'assessments' and the academia platform uses the term 'assignments'. The terms 'assessment' and 'assignment' are interchangeable in this article.

To set skills for an assessment:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Assessments on the course navigation menu.
   
1. Academia users will click Assignments on the class navigation menu.
3. Click an assessment.
4. Click the Set skills tab. If the assessment already has skills associated, click the Skills tab.
   
1. Academia users will click the Set competencies tab. If the assignment already has competencies associated, click the Competencies tab.
   
5. Skills associated with the course will display.
   
1. Select the skills that are covered in the assessment and click Save.
   
6. If skills are already associated with the assessment, they will display. 
   
1. Click Edit to add or edit the skills associated with the assessment.
   
2. Click Clear to clear skills associated with the assessment.

Adding skills to quiz questions

You can add skills to individual quiz questions. Each score for a question that has skills is considered to be a separate data point for mastering that skill. For example, if you have two questions in a quiz assessment that are associated with the skill X, and the learner scores 5 out of 10 on one question and 8 out of 10 on the following question, then their rating for skill X would be the best (80%) or average (65%) depending on the mastery option settings for that course. 

Please note that if you add skills to a question, they will replace the existing assessment skills.

To add skills to a quiz question:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Assessments from the course navigation menu.
   
1. Academia users will click Assignments on the class navigation menu.
   
3. Click the quiz assessment.
   
4. Click the question within the assessment.
5. Click the Set skills tab. If the question already has skills associated with it, click the Skills tab.
   
1. Academia users click the Set competencies tab. If the questions already has competencies associated with it, click the Competencies tab.
6. Select the skills tested by the question.
   
7. Click Save.
   
8. The skills will be saved and available in the Skills tab.
   
1. Click Edit to add or edit the skills associated with the question.
   
2. Click Clear to clear skills associated with the question.

On the Questions tab for a quiz assessment, questions that are associated with skills are indicated with a green tag.

1. If you hover over the tag, the skills associated with the question display. 

Adding skills to rubric criteria

If you use a Rubric to grade the assessment, you can add skills as rubric criteria. To learn how to add skills to rubrics, click here. 

Note that if you add skills to an assessment in the Set skills tab, and then you add skills to the rubric, the original assessment skills are cleared, and the rubric skills are used instead.

Coverage analysis

After tagging modules and assessments with skills, you can view Coverage analysis to see how well the course covers the skills. To view Coverage analysis:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Mastery from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the Coverage tab.
   
1. The chart displays the percentage of skill coverage that is Good, Fair, Poor, or Unknown.

Mastery rules

You can add mastery rules that trigger actions when learners achieve a specific skill level mastery level, maintain a skill rating within a specific range, or drop below a specific threshold for a specified number of days. For example, you can add a rule that awards a certificate when learners reach a specific mastery rating for a skill. 

1. Access a course or class.
   
2. Click Mastery from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the Rules tab.
   
4. Click + Add rule.
   

The Mastery threshold rule pop-up displays.

1. Select a skill.
   
2. Define the condition and range of the skill rating.
   
3. Select a duration for the rating.
   
4. Click Save.
   

The Mastery rule now displays in the Rules tab, with the triggering event details listed. To add an action to the rule:

1. Click + Add action below the rule. 
   

1. Access: Hide assessment, Hide module, Hide section, Lock module, Show assessment, Show module, Show section, and Unlock module.
   
2. Awards: Award badge, Award certificate, Award coupon, Award points.
   
3. Integrations: Webhook, xAPI
   
1. Additional integration options may be available based on the set-up of your platform.
   
4. Membership: Add to group, Enroll in course, Remove from group.
   
5. Other: Add tag, Add to-do item, Archive, Deactivate, Remove tag, and Send custom notification.
   

1. Click + Add rule to add another rule.
   
1. Click Edit to edit a rule.
   
2. Click Remove to delete a rule.
2. Click + Add action to add additional actions to a rule.
1. Click Edit to edit an action. 
   
2. Click Delete to delete rule. 
   

Mastery options

Administrators can configure multiple mastery options for courses in the Options tab. To configure the mastery options for a course, administrators:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Mastery in the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the Options tab.
   

1. Show mastery to learners: This feature is enabled by default. If you do not want learners to see the Mastery tab, uncheck the checkbox.
   
2. Show learners the competencies for each module and assessment: Select this option if you want learners to see skills details such as which skills are tied to each module and assessment, and their skill rating for each module and assessment.
   
3. Allow assessment submissions to be tagged with competencies: Select this option if you would like to be able to add skills to learner assessment submissions.

Mastery configuration

1. Mastery display: Administrators can choose between Numeric display or a Name display. This impacts how skill ratings display to learners.
   
2. Mastery calculation: This setting allows administrators to set how skill mastery ratings are calculated. The available options are:
   
1. Best: If the skill has multiple ratings, the best one is used for the mastery rating.
   
2. Most recent:  If the skill has multiple ratings, the most recent rating is used.
   
3. Average: If the skill has multiple ratings, the average of the ratings is used.
   
4. Decaying average: This option includes all ratings, but weighs recent skill ratings more than previous ones.
   
3. Mastery threshold for a single measurement: This setting allows administrators to set a threshold that must be met for a mastery rating. Note - This setting is disabled by default.
1. Mastery achieved when the following number of measurements meets or exceeds the threshold: This setting is tied to the mastery threshold rating for a single measurement and allows administrators to specify the number of measurements that must meet or pass the threshold before the learner is considered to achieve mastery.
   

Decaying average

If administrators select the 'Decaying average' option for mastery calculation, they can define the weight for the most recent skill measurement.

1. When calculating mastery ratings with a decaying average, each new rating is given a higher weight than the previous ratings’ weighted average. A typical equation for decaying average using a 70% weight looks like this:
   
1. Rating 1: 80
   
2. Rating 2: 70
   
3. Rating calculation: (80*.30) + (70*.70) = 73
   
2. If a learner completes a third assessment that rates that particular skill, then the equation takes the previous average and adds the weighted new rating:
   
1. Rating 3: 90
   
2. Rating calculation: (73*.30) + (90*.70) = 84.9
   

Default mastery configuration

Course mastery settings default to the the default mastery configuration. The default mastery configuration allows administrators to specify the mastery calculation rules that are used for the values displayed on the home dashboard mastery widget and the profile mastery page.

To access and edit the default mastery configuration, administrators:

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Mastery from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click Edit to configure settings.
   

The settings for the default mastery configuration display. Here, administrators can adjust the settings covered earlier in this article.

1. Progress calculation: This settings allows administrators to select between progress being calculated as a percent of skills that are mastered, or as the average of skill percentages.
   
2. Mappings: The Mappings section allows administrators to rename, or redefine the mastery rating names, minimum percentages, and colors. 
   

1. Click Save to update the default master configuration.
   

Tracking learner mastery

If you associate a course with a set of skills, and assess those skills by tying skills to questions, you can automatically track the ratings of each learner on a skill by skill basis.

Mastery grid

To view learner ratings for skills associated with a course:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Mastery from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the Learners tab.
   

1. Note that the number in the upper left corner of each cell in the mastery grid indicates the number of skill measurements/ratings that have been gathered from the learner for that skill. In the case of skills that have child skills, the total number of ratings from each child is also included.
   

If the 'Mastery threshold for a single measurement' is enabled, the number of measurements/ratings and the threshold is indicated above the mastery grid, and a star is displayed in each cell if the learner has achieved mastery based on the mastery threshold settings. 

Learners tab

To see a snapshot of how each learner is mastering the skills in a course:

Profile page

You can also view the mastery level of learners through their profiles:

1. Access a learner's profile page.
   
2. Click Mastery from the profile navigation menu.
   

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the number of skills listed on a course.

Learner view

If enabled, learners that are active or have completed a course with skills have access to the Mastery widget on their home page dashboard. The Mastery widget allows learners to see an overview of their mastery level for each course. 

Please note that the Mastery widget displays mastery values for the curricula associated with the learner's current courses and those they have completed in the past year.

To view the Mastery dashboard for a course:

1. Learners can click on a course in the Mastery widget.
   

The Mastery dashboard displays, with a summary of all skills associated with the course. The Summary tab displays:

1. The skills in the course.
   
2. The learner's number of data points for each skill.
   
3. The rating color and percentage for each skill.

To view additional details, learners:

1. Click the Details tab.
   

A Mastery level overview chart is also available for learners at the course level.

1. Learners can click on the Mastery chart in the right panel to see their progress for each skill associated with the course.
   

If the mastery course setting was enabled to allows learners to see skills for modules and assessments, then a summary of each skill in the course will display for learners. The learners color and percentage rating for each skill also displays. To see more details for the skill:

1. Learners can click the individual skill link.

A detailed view of the skill will display for learners. Skill information includes:

1. Parent and child skills.
   
2. Modules in the course that are associated with the skill.
   
3. Assessments in the course that are associated with the skill rating, along with the learners score for each assessment.