"Practice" Activities

Why Practice Activities?

Practice is a core element of effective learning. After training, structured follow-up is essential to help learners strengthen skills in their real work environment. That’s why B12 brings together features that support both knowledge reinforcement and practical application.

Practical activities need to be based on clear expectations—specific performance criteria and defined tasks. This goes beyond traditional assessments by measuring real behaviours directly tied to operational objectives. Practical activities in B12 turn training into measurable, on-the-job performance improvements.

How It Works in B12

B12’s practical activities can mirror the actual tasks learners perform on the job.

• Example – Technical skills: In automotive damage estimation, the process can be broken into sub-steps (analysis, reception, quality control). Each step has measurable criteria for self-assessment or trainer observation.

• Example – Soft skills: For a skill like giving constructive feedback, criteria follow a structured method (open the discussion, name the facts, discuss solutions) to evaluate real-world application effectively.

In B12, a practical activity includes:

• Title – The name of the activity.

• One or more practical cases (tasks) – For example: Task 1 – Submit a file. A single activity can contain multiple cases, either chosen by the learner or required to complete.

• Instructions – How to complete the case (e.g., based on a simulation, a real case, or provided files).

• Performance criteria – Specific measures related to the case.

• Performance scale – For each criterion, choose a scale: stars (1–10), Yes/No, or an open-text field.

For example : 

Measurement Options

In B12, practical activities can be evaluated in different ways:

• Self-assessment by the learner (mandatory – cannot be removed)

• Assessment by the trainer – Available at all times for trainers assigned to the group

• Assessment by the manager/supervisor – Available at all times for the learner’s manager

• Assessment by peers (optional – peers must be part of the program deployment group in B12)

Data Visualization in Dashboards

In the dashboards, the Hands-on gauge shows the overall average of the performance criteria across all practice activities in a program.
This gauge only appears when practice data is available in a program.

Then, the details for each hands-on activity will be available in the Hands-on tab.

Using Collected Data

The data collected from practical activities helps you:

• Identify tasks and criteria most successfully achieved to build on team and individual strengths.

• Target cases and criteria with lower achievement for additional practice and development.

• Focus on largest gaps between self-assessment and assessments by others (trainer, manager, peers) for deeper analysis.

As in all dashboards, you can filter data:

• By program

• By group

• By custom fields (e.g., role, seniority level)

• By individual

Creating a Practical Activity

• You can add one or more practical activities within a sequence or across multiple sequences in a program.

• A practical activity is a container for the practical cases, which are the core of this strategy.
  Each practical case contains the instructions and performance criteria, and all related data is linked to the case (not the activity itself). [See more details on cases below]

In B12's Studio, you can create and edit practical activities from a learning sequence or from the Activities tab. For more information, see Create activities

To create a new practical activity: 

1. Click on Create an activity.  A side panel will open with activity types. 

2. Click on Practice. 

3. Complete the following fields: 

• Title – Name of the practical activity.

• General instruction (optional) – Can also be provided only in the practical case.

• Cases to include – Select from the practical case list. [See more details below]

• Mandatory case – If set to Yes, the learner cannot move to the next activity until the self-assessment is completed.

• Peer assessment – Allow group members to evaluate each other. All members will be able to provide observations for all other members in the group.

• Case order – If the activity includes multiple cases, adjust their order using the up/down arrow buttons.

Create a Practical Case

• The practical case list is located in the Practical Cases tab of the Studio.

• Practical cases cannot be deployed directly — they must first be added to a practical activity.
  This approach allows you to reuse cases in different practice scenarios throughout the program.

• Example: One practical case per week for 4 weeks, followed by a review of the 4 cases in the following weeks.

To Create a New Practical Case

1. Access the creation tool:

   • Click Create a practical case in the Practical Cases tab.
     OR

   • In a practical activity, click the “+” button in the top right corner of the case selection box.

   Note: Any new case you create will appear both in the Practical Cases tab and in the case selection box.

2. Fill in the case details:

   • Title – Name of the case.

   • Description / Instruction – Add the task description. You can include media such as files or templates to use.

   • Allow learners to upload files – Enable this if you want learners to submit evidence for trainer or manager evaluation (e.g., a completed form or a video of the task). Uploaded files will be downloadable in the Observation tool for trainers and managers.

3. Add performance criteria:

   • Title of the criterion – Name the specific skill or action being evaluated.

   • Performance scale – Choose from:

     • Stars (1–10)

     • Yes/No

     • Text field (open-ended)

   • Allow N/A – Check if the criterion may not apply to all learners (e.g., “Client was called back” may not be possible if no number is provided).

   • Comment box – Check to allow learners to add comments under the criterion (optional for them).

4. Complete the creation:

   • Add as many criteria as needed.

   • Click Create to save the practical case.

Progression Over Time

If the same case is used in multiple activities, B12 tracks and displays a trend in the dashboards.
This shows the learner’s progression over time on that case.

Peer Observation

Peers can evaluate other group members directly within the practical activity:

1. In the case, click the Observation button (appears as a second button in the case).

2. Select a group member from the drop-down menu.

3. The evaluation form for that person will appear, with the same criteria and wording as the self-assessment.

4. Add your observations and submit.

Observation by trainers and managers

Managers and trainers access the observation forms via the Observations menu in the left bar of B12.
 

The page presents a list of programs, with a table showing remaining observations to complete and self-assessments completed by learners. 

By clicking on the line, the different groups are displayed, and then the names of learners in order to fill out the form. 

The trainer or manager then sees the form in 3 columns: 

- their observation(s) to fill out.

- the self-assessment the person gave themselves .

- the average of peer observations. 

If a document was uploaded by the learner, it will also be available on this page. 

The trainer and manager can thus use this tool to access the forms and provide feedback to learners on practical cases. 

🚩 Currently it is not possible to: 

• Send notifications when a form is completed.
• Make the self-assessment unavailable to the learner.

If you have comments or questions regarding this feature, please do not hesitate to write to us at support@apprentx.rocks.