Direct Care (DC) Staff/Provider:

This role is designed for those providing direct care to children or youth in Child and Youth Programs (CYPs). It is appropriate for new program staff or family child care providers who are working on their foundational Virtual Lab School (VLS) training, and for direct care staff who have completed their foundational training, but for whom you may want to track their completion of VLS coursework, such as the Focused Topics courses. DC users must be assigned to a Foundational Track (Infant & Toddler, Preschool, School-Age or Family Child Care), and Training & Curriculum Specialists or Program Managers can enroll DC users in the specific courses they wish for them to take in their respective track (link to enroll support article), or in Focused Topics courses (link to Focused Topics enrollment). DC users accounts can be created by Training & Curriculum Specialists or Program Managers within CYPs. DC users can track their own course progress, but cannot see the learning of any other VLS users.

Support Staff (SS):

This role is designed for those who work in Child and Youth Programs (CYPs), but do not provide direct care to children and youth. This role is ideal for program clerks, cooks, front office desk-staff, maintenance or custodial staff, bus drivers, or other support roles within CYPs. Similar to DC users, SS users are enrolled in coursework by their Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager, however they are not assigned a Foundational Track. The coursework most applicable to SS users is in the Focused Topics tracks (please see the following courses: Child Abuse Prevention for Support Staff; Child Abuse Identification & Reporting for Support Staff, Essentials in Child Care Food Service). SS users can track their own course progress, but cannot see the learning of any other VLS users.

Non-Supervisory Specialist (NSS):

This role is designed for staff within programs who may serve, or be preparing to serve, in a mentorship role, such as an assistant Training & Curriculum Specialist or a CYP lead teacher. Unlike DC users, NSS users can be enrolled in and self-certify in the Training & Curriculum Specialist track or the Program Manager track. Hence, we recommend that this role only be used for learners who have completed their foundational training and who can appropriately monitor their own learning within these self-certifying tracks. Unlike Training & Curriculum Specialists or Program Managers, NSS users cannot view or approve the coursework for DC or SS users. NSS users can also be enrolled in Focused Topics courses by their Training & Curriculum Specialist or Program Manager. NSS users can track their own course progress, but cannot see the learning of any other VLS users.

Training & Curriculum Specialist (T&CS):

This role is designed for T&CSs, or program coaches, and is the primary role that provides oversight and support to DC, SS, and NSS users. T&CS users are automatically enrolled in the T&CS track to self-certify their own learning. T&CS users have the ability to create new DC, SS, and NSS users, to enroll them in coursework, and to, as appropriate for the specific coursework assigned, approve lessons and certify courses. T&CS users also have the ability to create new T&CS and Program Manager (PM) users for the installation to which they are assigned.

Program Manager (PM):

This role is designed for managers, or directors, of Child and Youth Programs (CYPs). PM users all have the same user abilities and views as T&CSs, so that they can monitor the training of their program staff. However, these users are automatically enrolled in the Management track to self-certify their own learning. Like T&CSs, PMs also have the ability to create new DC, SS, NSS, T&CS and PM user accounts for the installation to which they are assigned.

Installation Administrator (IA):

This role is designated for the person at the installation who oversees Child and Youth Programs (CYPs). The IA can pull reports of the overall training that has occurred at the installation level (for example, the number of course or track certificates completed across all CYPs at the installation) but can also examine individual training records of those at the installation to which they are assigned, including the training records of T&CS and PM users. IA users can also create new users as needed, including additional IA accounts. IAs can choose to enroll in the T&CS or Management track and enroll in Focused Topics courses.

Service Monitor (SM):

This role is designed primarily for Service inspectors. This role can examine the training records of any individual throughout the Service to which the SM user is assigned. SM users can choose to enroll in the T&CS or Management track and enroll in Focused Topics courses.

Headquarters Administrator (HQAs):

This role is designed for leaders across a Service or Department of Defense (DoD) office. These leaders can choose to enroll in the T&CS or Management track and enroll in Focused Topics courses. Similar to SMs, they can examine the individual training record of anyone within their Service and pull aggregate reports of training across their entire Service, but they can also create new IA, SM and HQA users.