Provide this guide to direct care staff to review the information about the Course Guide and Competency Reflection. Then have staff navigate to these tools on the VLS website so they are comfortable accessing and using them. 

Course Guide

This tool is available for all Foundational and Focused Topics courses and is a quick way to review the course objectives and the activities and resources available in each lesson. Learn more about the Course Guide in the Course Guide Support Article

• The Course Guide gives you a sense of how long it will take to complete individual lessons and entire courses. Some lessons have only one required activity, others have two or more, and there are a few lessons that only have nonrequired activities. Courses vary with number of lessons, and you will need more time to complete courses that have greater numbers of lessons and activities.
• Though you can use the Dashboard to view the status of your lessons and activities, if you prefer a printable, paper-based method to track your progression, you can print the Course Guide.

Competency Reflection

Available for all VLS Foundational Courses, Competency Reflections are used to assess and document competencies (practice and knowledge) related to each Foundational Course area.  Competency Reflections provide an opportunity for you and your coach to identify your strengths in the competencies associated with a particular course, to list goals relative to this area of focus, and to establish an action plan to follow up and achieve these goals. Learn more about the Competency Reflection in the Competency Reflections Support Article. 

• It may not be possible to directly observe all competencies. If your coach is unable to observe a particular competency, your coach may ask you questions, examine elements in the environment, and review your completed Learn, Explore, and Apply activities, and End of Course Assessment responses to determine the appropriate rating.
• You can use Competency Reflections in a variety of ways. Your coach may ask you to self-rate before you complete a course to assess your confidence level in this area and how much support you may need. They may ask you to complete the Competency Reflection at the end so they understand where you feel your strengths and areas for growth are.
• You may encounter situations where your rating for a particular competency is quite different from your coach’s rating. While a one-point difference is understandable, a 1 versus 3 rating warrants further conversation. Make sure you have objective evidence to support your rating of each competency, so facts rather than opinion guide these conversations.
• Competency Reflections are great tools to help you create goals, especially if you are already certified in all foundational courses. Your coach may ask you to refer back to your Competency Reflections and choose a course area which you feel you would like to improve based on ratings.