We run a blended learning course where we mix e-learning, webinars, and even assignments outside the LMS.
Since we first heard of observation checklists, we figured it could be a great way to track our learners progress on some tasks. But no matter how much we fiddle with the settings and read the knowledge base articles, we can't really figure out how to work the observation checklists into our workflow.
I would love to hear from you all how you use observation checklist in your trainings. Who fills them out? How do you initiate them? Who reviews them and when? Do you link them to ILT courses?
I have figured out how to create observation checklists, I just haven't figured out how to use them in any practical way.
In case anyone is curios, here's a bit more detail of our setup (major TL;DR warning):
We offer a two-week product training for our distributors and partners. The learners register for the training by enrolling in an ILT course. That ILT course contains all the webinar sessions that the learners need to attend.
We use the waitlist feature, so that we can control who registers. Once we enroll a learner from the, they are automatically enrolled in a learning plan. (Technically, they are automatically added to a group, and there's an enrollment rule for that group.)
The learning plan contains the ILT course as well as the mandatory e-learning courses. There's also a final assessment, that is unlocked once everything else in the learning plan is completed.
Now we also send out a notification email, including the webcal link and .ics calendar attachment for the ILT parts of the training. The email also includes instructions and a link to the e-learning we recommend they do before the first session.
We then run our ILT sessions in Microsoft Teams. We don' have the integration in place yet, so after each session we mark user attendance manually.
In-between each session, the learners get homework assignments to do and hand in. They do all this in a SharePoint folder, so there's no interaction with Docebo. We manually check their homework and keep track in a spreadsheet. After the last session, we don't mark them as present until all their homework is complete.
This is the step where Observation Checklists might come in place. My idea is that they mark their homework as complete on an observation checklist, then one of us teachers go in to verify that. Or we check of the homework from their observation checklist after we've checked it.
Once the learner has completed all the e-learnings, attended all ILT sessions, and completed their homework assignments, they can take the final assessment. And once that's complete, we send out an email with a link to their certificate.
Page 1 / 2
Hi Anders!
I love what you’re trying to do and automate and I agree that some of the negotiations for Observation Checklists can be a bit tricky. Our product team is working on improvements for Observation Checklists to make them a bit more flexible for non traditional use cases. I would recommend creating or adding to an existing idea in the ideas portal around assigning multiple approvers to the same list (perhaps instructor or power user).
Given what you’ve described I think you could create an observation checklist set to “Self Observation” and then some different options for approval.
If you’re using manager relationships at all, the manager could be set as the approver and whoever is their direct manager(or whatever manager type you choose) could approve the list.
You could create a user called “Observation Checklist Approver” (or whatever you like) that all checklists are assigned to and instructors could login to that account and review/approve checklists.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into setting up a manager relationship for our learners.
I'd of course love to hear about traditional use cases for observation checklists as well, not only related to my specific use case.
Hi Anders,
we’re using the checklists as a training material in courses.
Example scenario: We have learning plans where the courses are self assessed. We want participants to contribute to the forum, reflect on their learning and do some research before they move on to the next part of the course.
How we do this: the final activity in the course is a training checklist where they self-assess to confirm their progress in these actions and add some reflections on their learning.
The activity is set as the end object marker, completion of the activity completes the course...and then the next course in the learning plan becomes available.
We are also struggling to get the Observation Checklists (OC) up and running within our learning flow.
Our use for them would be as part of a certification learning process. The learner would work through all the digital learning assets (i.e., read SOP, view a series of training videos and examples, take a quiz), then do their “on-the-floor” training with a trainer to practice and validate practical skills. The floor training is where we need a manager or alternate user to be able to validate demonstrated skills before we can approve them to obtain a certification to operation heavy machinery and equipment.
We’ve tried including the OC right inline with the digital assets (training materials), but it triggers an error - we’re *guessing* it looks like an error to the end user because they are not the ones assigned as the doer in that instance. Either way, it’s not a good learner experience and from there it’s too confusing to figure out how to move forward in the process.
The other issue is the lag time from the triggered OC to the assigned parties. We’ve found it takes, on average, 2 hours for a manager/alternate user to see the task appear in their list. That’s unusable in an environment when the list is needed at the time the other assets are completed.
We’ve, for now, chosen to skip using the OC until they become more user-friendly and assignable without so much confusion. We have gone back to paper checklists for the floor training. Our admins will simply load the scanned checklist to an evaluation for the user to an ILT for completion of course. (Of course this is super clunky too - but I’m hearing that Docebo is working on improving the ILT side of the system.)
That’s my two cents. Fingers crossed we can get OC up and usable this year!!
Hi Anders!
I love what you’re trying to do and automate and I agree that some of the negotiations for Observation Checklists can be a bit tricky. Our product team is working on improvements for Observation Checklists to make them a bit more flexible for non traditional use cases. I would recommend creating or adding to an existing idea in the ideas portal around assigning multiple approvers to the same list (perhaps instructor or power user).
Given what you’ve described I think you could create an observation checklist set to “Self Observation” and then some different options for approval.
If you’re using manager relationships at all, the manager could be set as the approver and whoever is their direct manager(or whatever manager type you choose) could approve the list.
You could create a user called “Observation Checklist Approver” (or whatever you like) that all checklists are assigned to and instructors could login to that account and review/approve checklists.
hello @pmo : this is exactly what I’m trying to do : using manager relationship. my challenge is to
allow the learner to see the comments entered by the manager on his assigment.
get some reporting about all the comments entered
the use case is the following: 1. the learner uploads an assignment (a video pitch) as Training material in a course: next he “activates” the checklist , 2. the manager reviews and give feedback using the checklist. 3. the learner reads the feedback and completes the course.
why not using just the assigment? because we’d like the feedback to be structured with key questions (free text and checkboxes), not just a rating and a free text comment.
We have taken the Observation Checklists and configured them as 1:1 Coaching Forms. We used the localization tool to rename them as such.
Each manager has a form for each of their employees. They can keep notes in the forms up until they are ready to meet with the employee. The employee then needs to approve the form. The cycle starts over. Managers are expected to meet with the employees every two weeks.
It has been working well. It has allowed us to track that coaching is being completed and it is automated.
We’re currently using observation checklists as a way to track completion of ILT sessions rather than enrolling people into a series of sessions. They use the date picker to identify the date attended and the instructor approves.
We are looking to extend the use of observation checklists for instructor-evaluated hands-on training, but have realized that observation checklists completed by instructors/ peers/ managers are not visible to the trainee. I have opened an idea to make these checklists viewable to the trainee which would really open up the use cases. If you have a similar need, please vote for the idea.
We have taken the Observation Checklists and configured them as 1:1 Coaching Forms. We used the localization tool to rename them as such.
Each manager has a form for each of their employees. They can keep notes in the forms up until they are ready to meet with the employee. The employee then needs to approve the form. The cycle starts over. Managers are expected to meet with the employees every two weeks.
It has been working well. It has allowed us to track that coaching is being completed and it is automated.
@malicm - this sound interesting. But where does the form for the manager sit before the coaching session?
It sits under the managers Observation Checklist area. They have a form for each employee. We chose to have it always available so the manager can make notes in the form before they meet with the employee.
It sits under the managers Observation Checklist area. They have a form for each employee. We chose to have it always available so the manager can make notes in the form before they meet with the employee.
Fantastic! many thanks for sharing. This is really helpful.
It sits under the managers Observation Checklist area. They have a form for each employee. We chose to have it always available so the manager can make notes in the form before they meet with the employee.
Are you able to download the checklists, by any chance?
If you mean to download to be able to complete the form, not that I am aware of. They have to update in the LMS. You can go to the checklist, right-click and print to PDF, if you wanted.
@malicm Thanks for sharing your idea, it helped me understand a different way to manage Observation Checklists for a project I’m working on.
Essentially, we have Onboarders go through different phases during Onboarding and we want the Team Leads to track the status of certain tasks during each phase. Instead of having the Onboarder complete the checklist, we can have the Team Lead complete it.
My question to you is, in your scenario where “The employee then needs to approve the form”. Is the Employee able to input their notes or input regarding certain objectives within the checklist or just the “notes” at the end? I find that the notes at the end are only 250 characters may not be enough.
I feel so silly asking this. But I can’t seem to find where the checklist “lives” even after going through all of the resources.
Some context: I am set up as a Learning Admin. Our Docebo is integrated with Ceridian/Dayforce and am not finding the option to create an observation checklist.
Is anyone able to advise?
Thank you in advance!
@lchaput When you say Learning Admin, do you mean SuperAdmin or Power User. I ask because I believe only Super Admins can create forms. If you are a super admin, it is located on the Admin Menu. We renamed ours to 1:1 Coaching Sessions. Hope that helps!
@lchaput as a SuperAdmin (not sure what Learning Admin is), you should see it in the left-hand menu under “E-Learning” when you go to the admin menu (gear icon in the top right). This will allow you to get to and edit/create/etc. Observation Checklists.
If you have the “My Team” menu item, there is a “Checklists” option there to see what checklists you are responsible for.
I found that this is where my Managers and anyone who has people “directly reporting” to them can see the checklists my team creates for them. Hope that helps!
@malicm Thanks for sharing your idea, it helped me understand a different way to manage Observation Checklists for a project I’m working on.
Essentially, we have Onboarders go through different phases during Onboarding and we want the Team Leads to track the status of certain tasks during each phase. Instead of having the Onboarder complete the checklist, we can have the Team Lead complete it.
My question to you is, in your scenario where “The employee then needs to approve the form”. Is the Employee able to input their notes or input regarding certain objectives within the checklist or just the “notes” at the end? I find that the notes at the end are only 250 characters may not be enough.
@dhall They can only add notes at the end. The way we are using it, we want the manager to document the 1:1 Coaching Session. If the employee disagrees, then it goes back to the manager and the manager and employee can discuss further.
@malicm thanks for the reply.
The more I think about it, I think what I am trying to do is have both the Manager and Onboarder complete the same checklist, that way it can be reported upon from both sides. Each of them puts in their input, feedback, etc. and the opposite party approves it.
Is that a possibility in any fashion with Observation Checklists?
@lchaput When you say Learning Admin, do you mean SuperAdmin or Power User. I ask because I believe only Super Admins can create forms. If you are a super admin, it is located on the Admin Menu. We renamed ours to 1:1 Coaching Sessions. Hope that helps!
@lchaput just saw the Observation Checklists privilege's can be granted to power users. Sorry about that.
Thank you for the help!
I think it is because Docebo is embedded right into Ceridian/Dayforce and so my options look a bit different. This is my assumption anyway. I will still check-in with our HR Director and see if there is an option that in her settings.
Thank you so much for your help @malicm
Thank you very much @dhall. I think the issue is that Docebo is embedded into Ceridian/Dayforce and it looks like we don’t have the same menu options. That is unfortunate.
Thank you for taking the time to provide the screenshots! Greatly appreciated!!
@malicm thanks for the reply.
The more I think about it, I think what I am trying to do is have both the Manager and Onboarder complete the same checklist, that way it can be reported upon from both sides. Each of them puts in their input, feedback, etc. and the opposite party approves it.
Is that a possibility in any fashion with Observation Checklists?
@dhall I’m working on the same idea. At the present, I have created a self-observer checklist for a learner, and have generally concluded that the manager can only approve/reject the completed checklist. I viewed an “in Progress” checklist from a manager’s dashboard and found that there the learner’s contributions didn’t appear and that the checklist was mostly grayed out.
How are you scheduling your checklists? I want to use an automatic group (based on additional fields), and it works to assign the checklist. My current issue is that I can’t stop additional “always available” checklists from appearing once the learner is no longer part of the automatic group.
It would be great if the logic of the observational check list allowed for a more back and forth type of discussion. Ie. if a person self observes and then it is sent to a direct supervisor, the supervisor should be able to respond back with comments that can be attributed to him and or vice versa. Then you could use the OC checker as a senior manager or an HR person...etc. If you were able to do this then you truly have an interactive learning experience as well as a way to document both the employees view and the managers view.
As it stands now you can not do that. Also if the manager does the OC the user can not actually see the results of the checklist easily or at all.
Like many things at Docebo, it is a good idea but poorly executed.
@Eric M VanAuken what you described is what I was expecting from the Observation Checklist learning object.
My use case matches exactly what you are referring to, where a person going through their Onboarding Process would complete certain tasks and objectives, update the Observation Checklist and then their respective Team Lead/Manager could come in and provide comments, feedback, and promote a discussion about what they are learning.
It would make everything so much simpler, but instead I have to use Word Docs shared through OneDrive which are then later uploaded to LMS via an “Assignment” learning object so we have it tracked.
@Eric M VanAuken what you described is what I was expecting from the Observation Checklist learning object.
My use case matches exactly what you are referring to, where a person going through their Onboarding Process would complete certain tasks and objectives, update the Observation Checklist and then their respective Team Lead/Manager could come in and provide comments, feedback, and promote a discussion about what they are learning.
It would make everything so much simpler, but instead I have to use Word Docs shared through OneDrive which are then later uploaded to LMS via an “Assignment” learning object so we have it tracked.
BINGO!!! That is exactly what we have to do as well. We are forced to upload a pdf or word file as an assignment to document what was discussed and agreed to.
This is a simple case of Docebo not asking their customers what the use case would be for such a tool. They have great ideas but miss the mark entirely as they do not understand how things are used in the real world and by its customers. OC’s are not a one way street. You need to document the conversation back and forth. You also need to allow the users to see what the final result of the OC was so that they can in turn learn and improve from it.
Has someone actually put this use case into the suggestions area? This needs to be spelled out in detail for the team as they do not pick up on subtle documentation.
