Competency and Logbook

Module purpose

The Competency and Logbook module records how a learner progresses from curriculum exposure to verified evidence and, where required, certified competence.

The curriculum defines what must be demonstrated. Academic Planning and Delivery records where teaching or clinical work happened. This module keeps the learner’s evidence, faculty review, competency state, remediation, and logbook-section completion.

Published curriculum requirement
  -> Course or clinical-posting activity
      -> Learner evidence
          -> Faculty verification
              -> Competency certification where required
                  -> Course, posting, or phase logbook completion

The logbook is not a blank diary and it is not the competency catalogue. Every learner entry begins from a requirement in the curriculum version pinned to that learner’s cohort.

What this module owns

This module owns:

• each learner’s programme logbook;
• phase, course, posting, elective, and longitudinal logbook sections;
• learner-created logbook entries and evidence;
• evidence created automatically from authoritative academic activity;
• faculty review tasks, decisions, feedback, and corrections;
• repeated attempts and competency remediation records;
• the learner’s competency evidence timeline and current state;
• final competency-certification decisions;
• course and clinical-posting logbook-section completion; and
• the audit history behind every review, certification, and completion result.

What this module does not own

This module does not:

• define curriculum competencies or logbook requirements;
• create course sessions, clinical postings, units, or learner groups;
• own attendance marks or attendance calculations;
• conduct examinations or own assessment results;
• store hospital patient records;
• infer competence from lecture attendance alone;
• change a learner’s cohort or phase; or
• make examination-eligibility or progression decisions.

Setup owns the curriculum definitions and authorisation rules. Academic Planning and Delivery owns the actual course and posting context. Attendance owns participation facts. Assessment and Examination will own assessment outcomes. Student and Cohort Management consumes final facts when it evaluates progression.

Actors and access

Access source	Access in this module
Student	Creates permitted entries, submits evidence, acknowledges feedback, completes repeats or remediation, and views personal progress
Assigned Faculty or clinical supervisor	Reviews entries arising from assigned courses, sessions, postings, units, or learners
Institute member with Course Coordinator role	Monitors a course’s logbook requirements, certifies course-owned competencies when authorised, and closes the course logbook section
Institute member with Clinical Posting Coordinator role	Monitors posting evidence and completion and closes the posting section when all required sources are ready
Unit Admin who is also eligible Faculty	Monitors unit work and may review or certify only when faculty designation and assignment rules permit it
Department Admin, normally with HOD appointment	Oversees departmental completion and provides a configured department-level certification or section approval
Institute member with Phase Coordinator role	Reviews competency and logbook gaps across the phase without editing learner evidence
Institute member with Academic Registrar role	Reviews final subject, posting, and phase completion facts for downstream eligibility processes
Institute Admin	Assigns roles and maintains permitted faculty designation records; administrative access alone does not verify evidence or certify competence
Auditor role	Reads requirements, evidence, reviews, certification, remediation, completion, and history within scope

Faculty access requires more than the Faculty role. MedCES also checks the user’s active designation, department or unit association, course or posting assignment, relevant dates, and the certification rule attached to the curriculum requirement.

How users reach the module

The module has both contextual and central navigation.

Student

My Courses -> Course Workspace -> Logbook
My Clinical Postings -> Posting Workspace -> Logbook and Competencies
My Logbook -> Complete programme view

Faculty

My Courses -> Course Workspace -> Logbook Reviews
My Clinical Postings -> Posting Workspace -> Logbook and Competencies
My Work -> Logbook Review Queue
My Work -> Competency Certification Queue

The screens show the same underlying records. Opening an entry through a course or posting supplies its context; it does not create a second logbook.

Evidence and certification are different

MedCES uses distinct learner-competency states:

Not Started
  -> Exposed
  -> Evidence Accumulating
  -> Assessed where applicable
  -> Eligible for Certification
  -> Certified

A learner may also be in Remediation Required for a named requirement.

Examples:

• finalised attendance at a conducted lecture can add Teaching Exposure;
• a verified practical can add Observed Performance;
• a verified clinical logbook entry can add Successful Performance;
• an assessment result can later add Assessment Evidence; and
• an eligible faculty decision creates Certification.

Exposure is not certification. A student who attends a lecture on ECG interpretation has received the teaching but has not thereby demonstrated the ability to interpret an ECG.

Authorisation model

The curriculum defines the required authority in terms of context and eligible faculty designations. It does not name individual faculty members.

Faculty role
  + eligible designation
  + responsible department or unit
  + current academic assignment
  + valid activity date
  + curriculum certification rule
  = permitted review or certification action

For a course-owned competency, assigned faculty may verify evidence and the Course Coordinator may make the final certification decision.

For a clinical-posting competency, the actual supervisor is the first verifier. Final certification follows the permitted designation chain within the assigned unit and then the responsible department.

Section completion remains a coordinator or department responsibility. A senior designation alone does not allow a faculty member to close every course or posting section.

Module flow

Create the learner logbook from the pinned curriculum version
  -> Show course, posting, elective, and longitudinal requirements
  -> Add learner or system-created evidence
  -> Route submitted entries to the correct faculty reviewer
  -> Record feedback, repeat, remediation, or verification
  -> Evaluate whether certification requirements are satisfied
  -> Route certification to the Course Coordinator or designation-authorised faculty
  -> Close the applicable course or posting section
  -> Supply stable completion facts to assessment eligibility and progression

Documented epics

1. Learner Logbook and Evidence

Provides the student’s central logbook and the course- and posting-specific Logbook tabs. It creates entries from defined requirements, captures learner evidence, displays automated exposure facts, and manages feedback, repeats, remediation, and personal progress.

Open Learner Logbook and Evidence →

2. Competency Review and Certification

Provides faculty review and certification queues, resolves the authorised reviewer from course or posting context, separates exposure from achievement, supports course-coordinator and unit/department certification routes, and closes course and posting logbook sections.

Open Competency Review and Certification →

Data model

See Competency and Logbook Data Model for curriculum definitions, learner entries, evidence, review, certification, remediation, and section-completion ownership.

Regulatory basis

The design follows the revised NMC Competency Based Medical Education Curriculum 2024. The guidance expects learner-maintained clinical logbooks or case records, review and feedback by designated unit faculty, completion of required certifiable competencies and the appropriate phase logbook, periodic monitoring and remediation, and logbook assessment as part of internal assessment.