Innovation in Education through
Competency Based Education
(CBE)
By: Dr. Diana Gilmer Echols
The relationship between online development skills
and CBE development
Assistant Professor of Business
Agenda
Introduction to Competency Based Education (CBE) Programs
Approaches to developing CBE programs
Faculty who develop CBE curricula
Known skills to develop CBE curricula
CBE and LMS platforms
Demonstration & Practice
Q&A
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Brief Introduction to CBE
Competency Based Education Programs are not new but academia and learning communities look to CBE as a means to innovate.
Military
Alverno College
Western Governors
Brandman University
Secondary Education
In the past five years, interest in competency-based education (CBE) has exploded as legislative and market pressures to boost educational attainment while lowering the cost of developing and delivering quality degrees have increased (Book, 2014).
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Introduction to CBE
Allow students to work at their own pace
Increase graduation rates
Lessen the financial burden on students
Demonstrate the skills required to perform tasks through assessments
Uses a backward design approach that begins with identifying the competencies that students must be able to perform
Assessments tend to occur on two levels
Study Results
Faculty Considerations
1.5 Million faculty in 2013
There is no way to determine how many of the faculty were involved in CBE or traditional curricula development
75 faculty were invited to participate
58 responded, 47 completed the survey in its entirety
Focus was on post-secondary institutions
(Institute of Education Sciences, 2015)
What we found . . .
Approximately 30% of the respondents (14) were under 45 years of age, 56% were between ages of 45 and 64, and 15% were 65 years or older
In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education
found that 51% of faculty identified as
male; 49% female
The survey respondents were the inverse of national data with 51% female and 47% male
57% of the 47 survey respondents were employed as full-time faculty; the remaining faculty members were part-time
In 2011, 49% of all faculty members in the United States were employed full-time
(Institute of Education Sciences, 2015)
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Approaches to developing CBE
Best practices for developing competency-based curriculum are still undefined
CBE uses a backward design approach
Begins with identifying the competencies that students need to demonstrate upon completion of the program
Starts with the development of competencies, followed the development of valid, reliable summative assessments
Learning content is developed last, after the competencies and assessments are developed
The educational focus is shifted from what academics believe college graduates should know to graduate, to what students need to know and be able to do on their first day on the job
(Voorhees, 2001; Carlson, 2013; O’Donoghue & Chapman, 2010)
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Faculty who develop CBE
curricula (1)
faculty members and/or SMEs had experience teaching online and experience developing college-level courses or programs for various modes of delivery
More than 50% of the respondents had taught over 26 online courses
45% of the respondents taught more than 35 online courses
13% taught between 26-35 online courses
Faculty who participated in the survey appear to be seasoned in teaching online courses
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CBE Skills and Experience
49% had experience developing learning solutions for blended courses
90% reported experience developing learning objectives/outcomes
70% stated they had experience developing discussion questions
83% had experience developing formative assessments; 81% had experience developing summative assessments
77% had experience lessons
77% had experience developing scoring rubrics
40% had experience developing videos
36% had experience developing simulations
32% social media elements
30% experienced developed webinars
21% experienced developing games
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CBE and platforms
A major challenge associated with implementing CBE programs is delivering the content via suitable platforms/ Learning Management Systems.
Some institutions have:
Developed within
Repurposed existing technology
Partnered with a third party vendor
Interactive technology is a must!
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Demonstration & Practice
See hand-out for
instructions.
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References
Book, P.A. (2014, May). Ten lessons from early adopters of competency-based education. Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.cbenetwork.org/sites/457/uploaded/files/AllHandsOnDeckFinal.pdf Carlson, S. (2013, September). Competency-based education goes mainstream in Wisconsin. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/ Institute of Education Sciences. (2015). National Center of Education Statistics for Education: Digest of Education: Number of instructional faculty in degree-granting institutions, by employment status, sex, control, and level of institution. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_290.asp
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Voorhees, R. A. (2001). Measuring what matters: Competency-based learning models in higher education. New Directions for Institutional Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
O’Donoghue, T., & Chapman, E. (2010). Problems and prospects in competencies-based education: A curriculum studies perspective. Education Research and Perspectives, 37(1), 85-104. Retrieved from http://www.erpjournal.net/
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Questions?
