What’s New in Competency Education in Higher Education (November 13, 2014)

Upcoming

• At the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ Annual Meeting, the session Competency-Based Education & the “Iron Triangle”: Demonstrating How Protecting Quality, Expanding Access, and Containing Costs Can Effectively Address the Equity Imperative will feature Laurie Dodge, Vice Chancellor of Institutional Assessment and Planning,Brandman University; David Schejbal,Dean of Continuing Education, Outreach and E-Learning,University of Wisconsin-Extension; Alison Kadlec, Senior Vice President and Director of Higher Education and Workforce Programs, Public Agenda; Amy Laitinen, Deputy Director for Higher Education, The New America Foundation; and Charla Long,Dean of Professional Studies,Lipscomb University

New Resources

• Check out CBE Info for resources for those that want to learn how to implement competency-based education in higher education. It’s been developed by Western Governors University and a team of colleges that have been developing competency-based programs.

• The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee “has received a $1.48 million grant to establish a national Center for the Study of Distance Education and Technological Advancement (DETA)… The DETA Research Center will identify and evaluate effective course and institutional practices in online learning and competency-based education for all students, including those who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and adult learners.”

News and Blogs

• Education Dive highlights 7 competency-based higher ed programs to keep an eye on.

• The University of Texas System makes bold move into competency-based education  describes UT’s initiative to “launch a personalized, competency-based education program system-wide aimed at learners from high school through post-graduate studies.”

• Brandman University has been approved by the  U. S. Department of Education that it has been approved to award financial aid to competency-based students using direct assessment.

• Big Ten and the Next Big Thing in Inside Higher Education comments on  “Three brand-name, Big Ten-affiliated institutions are now offering degrees in this emerging form of higher education. Yet the new programs at the University of Michigan, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin System are not aimed at the vast numbers of undergraduates who come to those campuses for the traditional college experience.”

• Competency-Based Education in Action on AACC 21st Century Center.

• Public-College Leaders Rail Against Education Dept.’s ‘Regulatory Culture in the Chronicle of Higher Education describes several of the concerns raised in a meeting with Ted Mitchell under-secretary of education and higher education leaders.

• Grading Adults on Life Experience in the Atlantic highlights some of the colleges and universities using competency-based models.

• Hacking Higher Ed With Competency-Based Education, published in Mozilla’s The Open Standard, is a compelling article on why competency education is valuable.