What’s New in Competency-Based Higher Education?

News from the Field

• The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHMS) developed a cost tool related to developing competency-based education programs for institutions, with support from Lumina Foundation. This cost modelis designed to help institutional leaders unpack the activities, costs, and revenue related to starting and maintaining CBE programs. You can download the cost models in Microsoft Excel format as a blank worksheet  and a sample.
• Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn could change the way employers choose future employees through online learning credentials. Higher education consultants say this pairing could change the competency game.
• A recent EdSurge article featured an interview with Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc where he calls for higher education to back up its claims around purpose and learning.

New Reports

• The American Institutes for Research published Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students’ Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions, funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. This study takes a closer look at how schools implement competency education, and examines how ninth grade students’ experiences of competency education practices are related to these “learning capacities,” or the skills, behaviors and dispositions that students need to learn effectively.
• The American Enterprise Institute published Innovate and Evaluate: Expanding the Research Base for Competency-Based Education, the sixth paper in a series examining competency-based higher education from a number of perspectives.

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