What’s New in Competency-Based Higher Ed?

Survey Findings: A student satisfaction survey commissioned by the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation regarding College for America at Southern New Hampshire University found that 99% would recommend the school and 100% said it had good or very good value. See survey here.

CFAT Paper Analyses: Johann Neem of Inside Higher Ed provides another insightful and detailed critique to the CFAT report. Paul Fain’s article, Sticking with the Credit Hour, also criticizes the CFAT report for falling short, insisting that the foundation should have worked harder to move beyond the credit hour standard.

CBE Continues to Grow in Higher Ed

• A report by the American Enterprise Institute, titled The landscape of competency-based education: Enrollments, demographics, and affordability, finds that universities and colleges are increasingly shifting toward competency-based education. NPR discussed this report’s findings in this article and Inside Higher Ed discusses this report here.
• There are many benefits for competency education which align with the missions of post-secondary institutions, four of which are outlined in the article titled The Multi-Faceted Potential of Competency Based Education: Four Benefits of CBE.
• Tamar Jacoby of The Atlantic wrote Getting Credit for What You Know, where she discusses how certain job sectors (including IT, advanced manufacturing, health care, the energy sector, hospitality and retail) are offering certifications to students who pass tests that measure their competency in practical skills.
• The Competency-Based Education Network (CBEN) added 15 new members, totaling 30 institutions and 4 public college systems, now including the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and the University of Texas.
• Paul Fain’s article Moving Ahead with Competency asserted that Bellevue College’s competency-based certificate pilot was so successful that the college dropped their traditional online version. Bellevue is one of more than 200 institutions across the country that have adopted competency-based education.

Resources

• The American Council on Education and Blackboard released The Currency of Higher Education: Credits and Competencies, written by Deborah Seymour, Deborah Everhart, and Karen Yoshino, which explores outcomes-based innovations in post-secondary competency education.
• The American Council on Education released a research report titled Credit for Prior Learning: Charting Institutional Practice for Sustainability. Written by Mary Beth Lakin, Christopher J. Nellum, Deborah Seymour, and Jennifer R. Crandall, this report addresses cultural barriers and successful strategies of Credit for Prior Learning (CPL).
• Community College Online, a new report written by Rachel Fishman, provides federal and state policy recommendations that would speed up time to degree completion for community college students by combining face-to-face instruction, hybrid and fully online courses, and competency education. Read more about this report in the Making Them Pay article.
• Eduventures released a series of reports on competency-based education over the past several weeks, which discuss perspectives, size, key demand drivers, and a comprehensive landscape of players and partners impacting future growth. Click here for the executive summary.