Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency By Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano Sunday, October 25, 2015 Twitter: @jonacuso Post 200
“Teachers in competency based classrooms must recognize that students enter at various levels of competency and acquire knowledge at different rates” (Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency, n.d.). No single human being is to learn the very same way in which a peer does; all of us have different ways of learning and of processing information provided in a classroom setting. The way the knowledge is grasped and consequently used in learning tasks varies from individual to individual. Faculty members “must be committed to facilitating learning at all levels by utilizing strategies to support learning of individual students without lowering expectations” (Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency, n.d.). To make competency-based instruction work within one’s classroom, strategies must be used. “In competency-based settings, teachers are encouraged to minimize direct instruction and focus on facilitating student learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). And the facilitation of student learning is definitely done by means of strategies
that need to be carefully envisioned and understood by the instructor. Let’s take the case of the Literary Criticism class where the following competency for literary analysis is meant to be met by learners: Antecedent – Behavior – Condition Competency Formulation A = Using the Reader Response way of literary interpretation, B = Learners will be able to analyze the poem A Dialogue Between the Soul and the
Body by Andrew Marvell C = by providing their personal interpretations regarding emotions, feelings and ideas discussed by the poet in an APA-format essay that must include an introduction, three developmental paragraphs, and a conclusion What strategies can be used to help learners become competent literary analysts within the Reader Response approach connected to Jacques Lacan’s mirror metaphor for literature?
The provision of a “stimulating environment” for learning and the development of competencies is needed. The instructor must be able to create the right conditions to foster deep learning among students. In addition, the teacher has to “establish an environment that encourages exploration and allows student to take risks, make mistakes, and find ways to improve their own learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). Learners are moved from a mere receptive state of information to a real engagement in the construction of their own knowledge and competencies. In my Literary Criticism course at the university, my students are provided with learning tasks that move them beyond the classroom setting with bits of online independent learning and research and
project-based learning works whose end product is the production of the essay stated in the competency formulation. The selection of appropriate learning resources is another strategy to be used in competency-based learning settings. The idea behind the selection of resources aligns with the idea that “teachers must support students as they work to acquire skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes that can be transferred to a higher level of education and/or the workplace” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). After the careful evaluation of resources that can help learners develop their research projects in the Literary Criticism class, they are provided with handouts, diagrams, case studies, worksheets, videos, demonstration, and essays by means of the university’s Moodle platform. The idea is then to provide them with the minimum required to carry out a learning tasks and prompt them into the search of new information on their own; this is a simple way to promote independent and long-lasting learning that can eventually be used in their future or current jobs. If possible, the personalization of learning is a requisite for competency-based education. This strategy allows the instructor to “provide tasks that are relevant and connected to the students’ lives and the work they will do in the future” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). In my literature class, this means that my learners are provided with small-scale projects that are relevant for literary comprehension and analysis linked to their personal and future professional lives as language instructors. Professors using this strategy must also comprehend that all pupils have “unique skills, backgrounds, and interests” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2013). The exploitation of learners’ skills, backgrounds, and interests is a priority in literary analyses because it helps them to achieve goals and competencies in their own personal way; learning cannot be homogenized in any sense since every individual construct knowledge differently. To concluded, any educator transitioning from mere traditional teaching/learning scenarios must keep this idea in their minds all the time: “The Competency-based
education (CBE) approach allows students to advance based on their ability to master a skill or competency at their own pace regardless of environment” (Competency-Based Education (CBE), n.d.). CBE allows instructors to create more engaging learning tasks aligned with competences that are required from students when they become part of the labor force in their countries or overseas. And as Educase puts it, “this method is tailored to meet different learning abilities and can lead to more efficient student outcomes” (Competency-Based Education (CBE), n.d.) if used correctly. The results of the teaching/learning process can be more rewarding than simply getting a good mark on a test or term paper.
References Blog 4: Teaching Students with Varying Levels of Competency. (n.d.). Retrieved from Laureate Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?c ourse_id=_84966_1&content_id=_142450_1&mode=reset
Competency-Based Education (CBE). (n.d.). Retrieved from Educase.Com: http://www.educause.edu/library/competency-based-education-cbe Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Supporting Student Learning in Competency Based Settings. Laureate International Universities.