What’s New in Competency-Based Higher Education?

New Programs

• Wesleyan University introduces competency frameworks to help students develop specific skills.
• Southern New Hampshire University is launching a competency-based master’s of education in online teaching program.
• Two competency-based credentials, the first for Ivy Tech Community College, have been approved by a national higher education accreditation organization. The Software Development Technical Certificate and the Business Operations, Applications, and Technology Technical Certificate will be offered starting in April.
• The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education approved the Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning’s application to become a degree-granting graduate institution, which will enroll 25 aspiring teachers in fall 2018.
• North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched a competency-based teacher education program.

News

• The national magazine Washington Monthly named Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) to its list of “Twelve Most Innovative Colleges for Adult Learners.” SLCC was singled out by the Washington, D.C.-based magazine for taking a “risk” on using a $2.3 million federal grant to convert nearly 20 programs in its School of Applied Technology (SAT) over to a competency-based education (CBE) model that began 2014.
• Radford University receives a $13.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to boost training of specialized education in a new program called Innovative Mobile Personalized Accelerated Competency Training.
• The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board unveils a new education plan that includes CBE.

Thought Leadership

• This article focuses on quality of competency-based programs, and highlights 4 steps on a proactive CBE path.
• Sajan George looks at recruiting teachers for personalized, competency-based programs.

Policy

• Idaho’s Higher Education Task Force included a recommendation for a competency-based or mastery-based K-12 system.
• A newly proposed bill, the Innovation in Accreditation Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives would grant broad waivers to accreditors aimed at allowing them to bypass federal requirements in order to encourage innovation.

Recommended Reading

• There is a new case study from CAEL on Customized, Outcome-based Relevant Evaluation (CORE) at Lipscomb University.
• The Lumina Foundation’s Summer 2017 Issue highlights real-life learning, featuring stories and videos redefining the post-secondary landscape.

Here are four articles from the Journal of Competency-Based Education:

• Implications for educator preparation programs considering competency-based education.
• “Right on the money”: CBE student satisfaction and postgraduation outcomes.
• Ensuring faculty success in online competency-based education programs.
• Deconstructing competency-based education: An assessment of institutional activity, goals, and challenges in higher education. 

Upcoming Event

The inaugural Fast Track to Success: Best Practices in CBE Design and Delivery conference in Austin, Texas, on June 2, 2017, was a phenomenal success. To sustain the momentum and to expand CBE across Texas — and beyond, there will be a second conference in Austin, on April 5 and 6, 2018. We are planning on approximately 300 attendees for this two-day conference.

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