Straight answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about SkillsPlus

What is SkillsPlus?

SkillsPlus is a revolutionary skills management and competency assessment system developed for, and designed with the input of, numerous instructors from across the U.S. and Canada.

What if I’m happy with the courseware I’m already using?

SkillsPlus is not pre-packaged courseware. It’s a powerful tool designed to help you better manage your existing curriculum and track the skill attainment process of your students.

What type of information can I track?

With SkillsPlus you can track skills, competencies, certifications, and attempt records of all your students. In addition, you can also track shop hours earned by students. You can track and manage student records both from year-to-year as well as across multiple classes. With a number of “user-definable” fields, you can also manage any additional information that is of importance in your specific training environment.  

What can I do with all this information?

SkillsPlus utilizes robust reporting tools to help you get the most utility out of your data. You can create a variety of reports, including detailed student competency portfolios. Use reports to track progress, perform skills gap analysis, identify issues before they become problems, encourage students, supplement report cards, increase communications with parents, analyze and justify your curriculum, and more.

Can SkillsPlus help me manage competency assessment / tracking requirements imposed by the state and federal governments?

Yes. For example, SkillsPlus can help schools meet some state's requirements for Perkins Act funding by empowering schools to easily demonstrate "vocational competency gain" and by providing students and parents with copies of completed competency checklists.

Sounds like a lot of functionality. How complicated is SkillsPlus to use?

It’s surprisingly simple. Instructors can access student records, track progress, and run reports all from a single screen. Just point and click.  Likewise, systems managers and administrators can manage a variety of levels of data with ease. With SkillsPlus you use as little or as much functionality of the system as best suits your environment.

How is SkillsPlus offered?

SkillsPlus is offered as a subscription-based service. A personalized implementation of the system is established specifically for your school.

How do I get my skills and related data into SkillsPlus?

Powerful import data tools make it easy to pull your skills and related data into the system.

What about student data I’m already managing with our administrative software?

You can manage a variety of administrative student data directly in SkillsPlus – or the system can share information with your existing administrative software package, eliminating redundancy and providing a single unified view to all your data.

How do I access SkillsPlus?

Access to your implementation is gained through a standard web browser. Users host their data remotely on one of our secure servers - while connecting to the system from virtually any location through the Internet. In addition, users with a wireless Internet connection can utilize their PDAs for tracking student competency achievement.

Who can access the system, and what can they see?

Access to the system is set up in various Usergroups such as Administration, Department Heads, Instructors, Students, etc. Each Usergroup has its own set of functionality. In most environments, Instructors are able to view and manage information on their own classes - or share viewing privileges with their peers. You can even set up accounts allowing students  (or their parents) “view only” access to their competency records.

What type of skills can I use?

With SkillsPlus you can easily import and track student's progress against virtually any available list of skills - for both vocational and academic classes - including those developed by your staff, government agencies, standards organizations, and licensing boards. 

What type of competency rating system will I have to use?

Like many areas of the SkillsPlus system, Competency Values are totally “user definable” and can easily be adjusted to match your current format.

What about security?

In addition to the security of Usergroups, access to the system can only be gained through individual password-protected accounts. In addition, a pre-set “time out” function automatically logs off users after a designated period of inactivity.

What are the technical requirements?

A standard web browser and a connection to the Internet are all that are needed.