Initial Thoughts on Competency-Based Learning

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Initial Thoughts on Competency-Based Learning

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano Monday, October 12, 2015 Twitter: @jonacuso Post 195

“The most important characteristic of competency-based education is that it measures learning rather than time. Students progress by demonstrating their competence, which means they prove that they have mastered the knowledge and skills (called competencies) required for a particular course, regardless of how long it takes” (Mendenhall, 2012). Based on Mendenhall’s characterization of Competency-Based Learning (CBL), I have been modifying my teaching in such a way that learners can demonstrate what they have been learning by means of projects, research tasks, and cooperative learning practices.

At Universidad Latina in Costa Rica, I am certain that lots of Faculty Members do use CBL in class and in various subjects and programs, but I cannot for sure tell whether it is the vast majority. In language learning, which is my area of work and expertise, I have been developing all sorts of small-scale projects to foster the consolidation of

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knowledge and skills into competencies that learners can use at work. Several of my colleagues do work similarly to me, yet others are more traditional in their teaching. To have all Faculty Members at Universidad Latina hold on to CBL, all of us must bear in minad that, as stated by the College Affordability Guide, “competency-based education’s results-oriented format allows students to use prior learning, open educational resources and whatever learning methods work well for them, as long as they can prove mastery of the material” (Competency-Based Education: Why MOOCs and Independent Learning are Tomorrow’s Course Credits, n.d.). This will no doubt result in more deep learning for all our college students.

My personal experiences with Competency-Based Learning has made me shift 180° in my teaching approach nowadays. As Everhart posits (2014), CBL is meant to be “learner-centric,” “outcome based” and, “differentiated.” My particular experience with CBL gravitates around student production and research (learner-centric) by providing students with tasks where they can demonstrate understanding and use of knowledge to consolidate a project for learning. The idea is to help learners “develop skills at their own pace” (Everhart, 2014). My current teaching practices aim at working on an “outcome based” fashion. That is, bearing the end product in mind and the competencies needed to be developed, students with assessment experiences carefully planned and graded with rubrics created for that only purpose. Finally, my CBL practice is “differentiated” for my pupils. My idea behind learning outcomes and objectives, as explained by Everhart (2014) is to “recognize and adjust” my teaching “to meet the needs of individual learners.”

Initially, I must admit, I was rather skeptical to give this approach a try. When I came to understand what Kaplan University points out, “the classroom –onsite, online, or a combination of both- is the environment best suited for students to acquire competencies; it is where they learn, practice applying what they learn, and demonstrate mastery that translates to a work-related setting” (Competency-Based Education, n.d.).

Why to wait for students to go on a professional practicum to have them realize what the needed competencies are? Isn’t it better to start training them in the classrooms from

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the very start of their majors? The answer for these questions are the pathway to follow to provide learners with deep learning opportunities to have them create the competencies needed to be functional at work.

Referencias

Competency-Based Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from Kaplan University: http://www.kaplanuniversity.edu/student-experience/competency-basededucation.aspx

Competency-Based Education: Why MOOCs and Independent Learning are Tomorrow’s Course Credits. (n.d.). Retrieved from College Affordabilty Guide: http://www.collegeaffordabilityguide.org/blog/competency-based-education-whymoocs-and-independent-learning-are-tomorrows-course-credits/

Everhart, D. (2 de October de 2014). 3 Key Characteristics of Competency Based Learning. Obtenido de Blog.Blackboard.Com: http://blog.blackboard.com/3-keycharacteristics-of-competency-based-learning/

Mendenhall, R. (2012, May 9). What Is Competency-Based Education? Retrieved from Huffingtonpost.Com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-robertmendenhall/competency-based-learning-_b_1855374.html