Competency Based Education

[marshwiggle]

From the Calgary Herald:

Here's how CBE works: before registering and paying for all of the courses that would be required for any given post-diploma certificate program, students can first go through an authentic assessment to see if they have the skills and knowledge to complete the course requirements. If they do, they don't have to take that particular class.

I expect to see more of this over time.

[wareagle]

From the Calgary Herald:

Here's how CBE works: before registering and paying for all of the courses that would be required for any given post-diploma certificate program, students can first go through an authentic assessment to see if they have the skills and knowledge to complete the course requirements. If they do, they don't have to take that particular class.

I expect to see more of this over time.

Sounds like CLEP tests to me.

[dismalist]

No. The difference is that CLEP relieves one of a course. One still needs 120 credits to graduate, whereas competency means a chunk of credits is earned outside the degree but count towards the degree.

Now lets get rid of Gen Ed, and certification will get very reasonable in price and time. :-)

[FishProf]

No. The difference is that CLEP relieves one of a course. One still needs 120 credits to graduate, whereas competency means a chunk of credits is earned outside the degree but count towards the degree.

Now lets get rid of Gen Ed, and certification will get very reasonable in price and time. :-)

The student still gets the credits.  I don't understand your distinction.

[ciao_yall]

Ah yes, CBE. The fantasy idea that students who never took a class but have life experience can pass the final exam for that class and demonstrate the outcomes.

Because... it's that easy?

[dismalist]

No. The difference is that CLEP relieves one of a course. One still needs 120 credits to graduate, whereas competency means a chunk of credits is earned outside the degree but count towards the degree.

Now lets get rid of Gen Ed, and certification will get very reasonable in price and time. :-)

The student still gets the credits.  I don't understand your distinction.

College can decide how it handles CLEP.

At some colleges, you may be able to apply your CLEP credit to the college's core curriculum requirements. For example, CLEP credit may be given as "6 hours—English Credit" or "3 hours—Math Credit," and can be used for any English or mathematics course. Find out before you take a CLEP exam what type of credit you can receive from your institution, or whether you will be exempted from a required course but receive no credit.

[marshwiggle]

Ah yes, CBE. The fantasy idea that students who never took a class but have life experience can pass the final exam for that class and demonstrate the outcomes.

Because... it's that easy?

For years we've had the option for 1st year students of writing an exam to get exempted from the first programming course. I think about 25% actually succeed.  That's enough to make it worthwhile, but it has an added benefit; students who take the exam but don't succeed see that they don't know everything they need to know.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I'm all for passing students through intro to stats or English comp if they can demonstrate mastery, but the bar should be mastery.

[marshwiggle]

I'm all for passing students through intro to stats or English comp if they can demonstrate mastery, but the bar should be mastery.

One example in the article is people who have been trained in another country but who need the credential here. That's a great example of someone who may be able to demonstrate mastery, and who shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of useless and expensive hoops unnecessarily.

[ciao_yall]

I'm all for passing students through intro to stats or English comp if they can demonstrate mastery, but the bar should be mastery.

Sure, because they probably already took the class someplace else.

I'm all for passing students through intro to stats or English comp if they can demonstrate mastery, but the bar should be mastery.

One example in the article is people who have been trained in another country but who need the credential here. That's a great example of someone who may be able to demonstrate mastery, and who shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of useless and expensive hoops unnecessarily.

The issue is usually needing to learn the subject in English. Someone who knows the subject already in a native language would definitely benefit from reviewing that learning in English.

Or learning USA laws, practices, and so on. They might understand the principles for their profession but how it's done in the USA may be different.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I'm all for passing students through intro to stats or English comp if they can demonstrate mastery, but the bar should be mastery.

One example in the article is people who have been trained in another country but who need the credential here. That's a great example of someone who may be able to demonstrate mastery, and who shouldn't have to jump through a bunch of useless and expensive hoops unnecessarily.

Sure, I'm all for it in this scenario.

[Hibush]

CBE is for a post-diploma certificate program. That's very different from a degree. The best certificate programs certify mastery of some specific thing, so testing out seems highly appropriate.

As far as I know, no certificate program with with a bachelors degree as a prerequisite has gen-ed requirement.