Ray Henderson captured the changing trend of the past two EDUCAUSE conferences quite well. The #Edu14 drinking game: sure inebriation in 13 from vendor claims of "mooc" "cloud" or "disrupting edu". In 2014: "competency based." — Ray Henderson (@readmeray) October 3, 2014 The #Edu14 drinking game: sure inebriation in 13 from vendor claims of “mooc” “cloud” […]
competency-based education
Helix: View of an LMS designed for competency-based education
Within higher education, we tend to talk about LMS solutions based on an institutional perspective – which systems can serve as the official LMS for an entire institution. While this view is important and forms the basis for my LMS graphics, the emergence of new educational delivery models has led to the development of some […]
Gen Ed and Competency-Based Education
Inside Higher Ed has a write-up today on an effort by the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) to develop a competency-based framework for general education called General Education Maps and Markers (GEMs), funded by a multi-million-dollar Gates Foundation grant. I am honored to report that I have been invited to participate on one […]
Notes from Paul LeBlanc keynote address at WCET13
Two weeks ago I attended the WCET Conference in Denver. While much smaller than EDUCAUSE and some others, I find these conferences to be great learning experiences, especially as WCET supports open dialogue between academic leaders (provosts, deans, etc), academic IT and edtech support, and industry leaders. The combination of mindsets – especially the combination […]
Competency-Based Education: An (Updated) Primer for Today’s Online Market
There has been a significant amount of progress and interest in competency-based education, as Wisconsin has launched its Flexible Option program, federal legislators are pushing the concept, ‘patient zero’ has graduated from College for America, and resistance is emerging to the concept. I thought it might be useful to update and re-share the primer that […]
SUNY and the Expansion of Prior Learning Assessments
Last week Steve Kolowich wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the State University of New York (SUNY) system approval of a plan that would target reduced time-to-degree. The State University of New York’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday endorsed an ambitious vision for how SUNY might use prior-learning assessment, competency-based programs, and massive open online […]
Competency-Based Education: A Primer for Today’s Online Market
As I described in my most recent post, the competency-based movement is finally gaining momentum based on recent announcements. But what actually is “competency-based education” and why has it taken so long to expand beyond Western Governors University? I’m not an expert in the academic theory and background of outcomes and competencies, so in this […]