Dive Brief:
- Proponents of competency-based education say it gives colleges and universities the chance to better connect students with job prospects after graduation, and a new report by consulting firm Tyton Partners details five ways to integrate the model into the higher ed landscape.
- The report, summarized by eCampusNews, offers college and university administrators a path (as well as a call to action) to better serve an institution's own goals and meet the needs of students and employers by incorporating informal learning into a student’s official record of academic achievement.
- The five main steps in the “evidence of learning framework” are offering competency-based education opportunities, finding a way to confirm student learning then offer proper credit for it, recording information about this learning, promoting CBE successes, and maintaining alignment across the higher education institution, its students and employers.
Dive Insight:
As student loan debt reaches historic proportions and college graduates continue to have a hard time finding full-time employment after getting their degrees, higher education institutions are being asked to create a firmer pipeline to the workplace and offer students more flexible ways to earn credentials. Altering the credit hour system is on the table in this effort.
Competency-based education gives students credit for evidence of their learning outside of a traditional number of class hours or a traditional classroom environment. It may be the future of higher education, as governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin suggest universities act as job-training sites above being research institutions emphasizing learning as a social good.