Level 2 Certification: Video
Background
A couple of years back we began the process of creating a series of internal certifications based upon a number of subjects or disciplines related to the event staging industry. (Audio, Video, Lighting, Projection, Scenic, and Computers) These certifications were developed to help properly determine the level of skill that a team member had in a given discipline, such as audio or stage lighting. Two levels of certification for each discipline were developed, each with a differing skill set required to pass. I was involved in the development of several of these. The knowledge requirements for the various levels within the disciplines were initially created by a committee from which the Learning & Development department, working with Subject Matter Experts (SME), then created the testing process for each of the identified subjects in the six disciplines within our department.
Development
One of the early questions that came up was how to determine whether or not a team member was ready to go through the certification process. Because of the method used to certify the individual, the process itself had a fair amount of cost associated with it and therefore it was imperative that individuals selected had the correct skill set. The criteria determined was that the team member needed to have 2-3 years relevant work experience in the discipline within certification. They would have needed to complete an ascribed training plan and would also need to pass a certification pre-test before being accepted.
Once the process was determined, we moved on to the development of the actual certification.
I will describe the Level 2 Certification for Video, but each discipline had a similar process.
The SMEs took the information, which were bulleted lists highlighting the needed knowledge, from the committee and began the process of expanding upon the skill and knowledge required for each of the points listed. Once the skills were defined, a method of testing for each skill needed to be developed. For instance: If the skill defined was “Setting Up A Broadcast Camera”, then all of the steps required would need to be known and listed in order for the proctor of the certification to properly assess the team member’s ability to do so. Hence, with each skill came a required outcome that would need to be detailed in the proctor’s guide.
The final deliverables for each certification would be the pre-test, a guide for the proctor, and an associated information packet to be used by the team member during the testing.
Deliverables
These are a few of the documents that where prepared and used for the certification process.
The Proctor materials contained the information that the proctor would use to evaluate the candidates progress through the certification.
The Candidate packet contained information to be used by the candidate to accomplish the live portion of the certification. The intent is that there would be little direct interaction between the candidate an the proctor as the proctors main objective was to observe the process and then evaluate outcome.
