The Journal of Competency-Based Education最新文献

Competency-based education (CBE) is an approach that evaluates the mastery of learning from a performance basis, rather than a seat-time basis. A CBE learner can capitalize on his or her experience from educational settings, work environments, or avocational background to demonstrate proficiency through prescribed academic and industrial outcomes. Utilizing a case study approach, this paper explores the obstacles to implement a graduate executive leadership CBE program at a faith-based, adult-learner institution in California. Budget implications, psychometric structures, assessment protocols, and competency identification are evaluated and described. In particular, this disruptive innovation highlights the topics of senior-level support, infrastructural investment, and faculty and staff involvement.

The authors argue in this paper that self-directed learning is a primary competency for hybrid and online business communication students in competency-based programs. The results of a small case study of students in two professional, project-based and competency-based online graduate programs reveal an incongruent profile: While students tended toward high enthusiasm and aptitude for self-directed learning, they chose learning resources that did not promote high levels of self-direction. Student resistance to self-direction suggests faculty in competency-based programs must re-think pedagogical approaches as well as the kinds of resources business and professional communication faculty provide for students and encourage them to use.

The landscape of higher education in the United States has been transformed in recent decades by disruptive changes, such as for-profit universities, online education, an aging workforce, funding decreases, and tuition increases. According to Rubin (2013), higher education institutions’ costs continue to rise while state funding is being reduced. As a result, most schools have raised tuition significantly in recent years. As the costs continue to climb, a traditional college education becomes unaffordable for more students (Christensen & Eyring, 2011). Clearly, the rising cost of higher education is becoming a larger burden in need of attention. Institutions must find ways to control their costs or tuition will continue to rise and higher education will be less accessible. “Mere budget cutting will not be enough. For the vast majority of institutions, fundamental change is essential” (Christensen & Eyring, 2011, p. 50). According to Johnstone and Soares (2014), an affordable college education is the answer to economic competitiveness and individuals’ personal success.

In addition, Zumeta et al. (2012) highlight the fact that today's workforce needs to be able to learn and use new technologies, have problem-solving skills, and have more diverse knowledge than ever before. Johnstone and Soares (2014) express that there is a current gap between college graduates’ skills and what employers are demanding. Given these needs, opportunities exist for models of higher education which are more accessible to the underserved portions of the population that are still not receiving the necessary education and/or skills to participate in the workforce.

One of the major underserved populations in the United States is the nontraditional adult learner (NAL). Chen (2017) states that despite the fact that approximately 38% of postsecondary learners are NALs, current efforts largely fall short of meeting their needs and treat NALs as having “secondary student status” within the institution. Chen (2017) also argues that despite the need for NALs to be educated for the workforce, institutions largely focus improvement efforts on items that privilege traditional-aged students, with the exception of expanded online offerings. For example, it is common for institutions to spend millions improving residence and dining halls, fitness centers, and other structures that largely support traditional-aged students’ lifestyles.

Rubin (2013) states that state governments have begun to put pressure on universities to change by focusing on improving access to education and leveraging the benefits of online learning. Given the challenges universities face in meeting enrollment targets and balancing the budget, tremendous opportunities exist for schools to address NAL and other students’ needs in order to provide a diversified enrollment str

In competency-based education (CBE), students move through their degree programs one course at a time by demonstrating mastery through a variety of content and professional domains. Institutions of higher learning are beginning to realize the importance of real-world, performance-based assessments like computer simulations, where demonstrations of competence are key to success. The greatest advantage of this mode of testing is the real-world relevance that can be incorporated into the assessment, and technological innovations continue to expand these opportunities. However, without a standard-based approach, computer simulation examinations will remain challenging for those institutions.

Central to the development of computer simulations is the need for high-fidelity assessments of learner aptitudes and competences that include a significant emphasis on not only cognitive abilities (knowing what) but also the performance of those abilities (demonstrating how). As students work within an individual domain of knowledge and skill, they are assessed on one or more topics, each consisting of a series of competencies with associated test objectives and performance tasks (Gyll & Ragland, 2018). As the popularity of CBE programs continues to grow, its integrity will be scrutinized by students and employers alike; and its credibility is largely dependent upon the quality of the assessments that are used (McClarty & Gaertner, 2015).

A simulation is a mock representation of a real-world process or system that represents the key characteristics of the system, such as its behavior, functions, and physical properties. A simulation is like a case study (the examination of a problem used to illustrate a thesis or principle), but with the participants on the inside, not on the outside. Simulations are used across many disciplines. For example, stochastic (probabilistic) simulations are used when some variable or process is estimated based on a statistical technique, such as can be used to show the eventual real effects or forecasted conditions of weather patterns. The military uses for simulation can involve the use of aircraft simulators for training pilots or simulated armored fighting vehicles that imitate real-world combat conditions. Similarly, simulations are an essential part of today's medical education, as many universities have simulation centers (or skill laboratories), where students can practice diagnostics and procedures on life-like mannequins (Roterman-Konieczna, 2015).

In many instances, the differences between computer simulations and live environments seem trivial. In fact, many computer simulations have gotten so sophisticated, that, if optimized, they could serve as the actual workstation (i.e., a computer system designed for individual use). In some instances, however, it may neither be possible nor desirable to simulate the full functionality of an application. For example,

Recently, there has been an increase in the adoption of competency-based approaches (CBA) in higher education and, for some practitioners, this involves modifying existing provision. This case study describes the development, delivery, and evaluation of a transnational training program that was developed for Chinese university tutors who planned to implement CBA into their teaching. The 25-hr training program was designed to be experiential in nature, so practitioners learnt about and experienced CBA simultaneously. Although the participants rated the program favorably, we identified two main challenges associated with the training course: anxiety around the CBA and the need to be aware of the learners’ cultural climate. Recommendations for others who are developing similar training programs that model a CBA are discussed.