STUDENT FAQ and SUPPORT (no login required - your answer will be emailed to you)

Approved NauticEd Instructors can train you for on the water skills to the practical competency rank that you desire. At the end of the training (or though out the training) the instructor will "change hats" to become an Assessor. At that point the Assessor will assess you for the learned skills that you can demonstrate. At the end of the assessment your Assessor will award a deserving practical competence grade. The practical competence grade becomes verified because of the assessor observing your competence skills. The grade may or may not match the grade you sort.

When assessing, your Assessor will not offer instruction. Rather he or she is there to observe your competence. They will likely literally or figuratively wear an Assessor hat as such.

For example, suppose you are seeking a Skipper Large Keelboat Verified Practical Competency but through out the assessment you could not demonstrate some skills worthy of being a fully competent Skipper of a large keelboat. Perhaps you continue to do accidental gybes when heading down wind. Perhaps you could not return to a person overboard. Perhaps you could not dock the boat in a confident and consistent manner. In this case the Assessor would likely sign you off and give you Verified Practical Competency to the Qualified Crew Member grade. The Assessor would also create a remediation plan for you for improvement so that once those tasks are demonstrated, you could be verified as having Skipper Large Keelboat competency skills.

With NauticEd, the Verified Practical Competency grade matches the same name as the theory Rank. For example, you might be Skipper rank according to your theory courses passed (and logged the appropriate amount of experience to level up) so you might be Skipper Level II. But you might have no verified practical competency yet since an Assessor has not observed your skill set. Once an Assessor takes you and and performs the assessment then so long as you pass the on the water skills for Skipper Large Keelboat, then you will be awarded Verified Practical Competency for Skipper Large Keelboat.

Note that the software will not show on your resume that you are practically verified as Skipper Competent until you reach the theory rank as well. It means that your theory knowledge and practical skills must match in order to be a fully Verified Practical Competence Skipper Rank.

See this Ranks and Levels article

Instructors and Assessors 

Instructors and Assessors must hold their own Rank in order to sign off students to the same Rank.

e.g. An Assessor who is assessing a student for the Bareboat Charter Master/ICC/SLC Verified Practical Competence MUST themselves be Bareboat Charter Master Rank with NauticEd as well

When assessing, the Assessor will use the standardized skill set rubrics for each Verified Practical Competence grade. These can be seen by students under their curriculum tab under OTW Assessments.  Assessors can view the same rubrics under their resources tab.

To view any instructor's assessment ability grade, go to their school on NauticEd and then view down to the instructors. There it will show the Instructor/Assessors assessment ability to sign off.

Authentication

Authentication is different from Verified Competence as above. Authentication refers to your experience in your logbook. You experience is Authenticated by a crew mate or by TrackLink GPS Tracking.