How is Off-The-Job Progress Calculated?

Description

This article outlines how Off-The-Job (OTJ) progress is calculated in Apprenticeship Management.

Required module

ePortfolio

Type of user

• Learners
• Assessors
• Employers

Features

• A learner's requirement of OTJ hours is taken directly from the Smart Assessor system. Apprenticeship Management will check the data to ensure the correct OTJ requirement is used:

1. The first check is for a learner's active 'Episode' of learning. If the current active episode has a value in the 'Expected Off the Job Hours for this Episode' field in Smart Assessor, then this value is used as the learner's Total OTJ Hours Required.
   In this instance, the system will also refer to the Start Date and Planned End Date of the episode.
2. In the event the learner does not have hours entered against their active episode, or does not have an episode configured for them, then the system will next refer to the specified hours set against the learner record. When the field 'Use specified Off-The-Job hours' is ticked and the field 'Expected Off-The-Job hours' has the requirement entered, then this value is used as the learner's Total OTJ Hours Required.
   In this instance, the system will refer to the earliest Start Date and latest Planned End Date of the learner's courses.
3. In the event the learner does not have an active episode and does not have specified OTJ hours configured, then the system will check for a current 'Contracted Work Hours' record.
   In this instance, the system will refer to the earliest Start Date and latest Planned End Date of the learner's courses.

• The widgets to display OTJ progress will show two key metrics to display the learner's progress based off of the data derived from Smart Assessor:

1. Target hours to date - The system will refer the current date and where it sits in between the start and end dates used in the calculation. It will then use this to determine the expected hours to date from the Total OTJ Planned.
   For example:
   A learner is on a 2-year course and is required to fulfil 500 OTJ hours over the programme. The learner is currently 1 year into their programme, so is currently 50% the way through their course.
   The widget will then determine that because the learner is 50% through their course, then they should have completed 50% of their hours to date, so the Target would display as '250 (50%)'.
2. Submitted - The system will count the total OTJ hours and minutes that have been added against the learner record where the activity date of the entry occurs between the start and end dates used in the calculation. It will display a percentage relative to the Target hours to date.
   For example:
   A learner is on a 2-year course and is required to fulfil 500 OTJ hours over the programme. The learner is currently 1 year into their programme and they currently have 250 OTJ hours logged where the activity date in the entry occurs within their programme.
   Therefore, the widget will determine that they have logged the expected amount of hours to date, so the Submitted value would display as '250 (100%)'.