Many of today’s students will one day acquire jobs that do not yet exist. In the meantime, these students will need to acquire and master a variety of skills. So how are we to prepare today’s students to excel in our ever changing world?
According to Katie Varatta, Competency-based education may be the answer. Competency Based Learning or CBE is an approach to learning that flips the structure of traditional education. In a typical classroom, “seat-time” is held constant while the quality of learning may vary from student to student. However, with the competency-based approach, students are at the center of their learning. While the specific mechanics of this approach to learning are still very new to me, the gist of it is that students determine their own learning goals, and then work to progress at their own pace until they have reached their goals. Varatta also assures teachers that this approach would not require thirty some odd individualized lessons. Though, I am unsure as to the compatibility of whole class lessons coupled with individualized progression. So how will students know when they have reached their own learning goals? Competency based education has an emphasis on authentic assessment, which evaluates what students know and can do through real-life demonstrations and projects. I do not have precise examples of such assessments, however, as a Project Based Learning instructor, I am well aware of the range of ways in which students can sufficiently demonstrate mastery of their abilities. Competency based Learning appears not only well suited to leverage educational technologies, but also dependent upon them. That is to say, the benefits of Ed Tech equal the need. For one, I can not fathom an efficient mode of tracking the individualized progress of hundreds of students that did not involve modern technologies. I assume minds greater than my own have already created such tools designed to track and store this data while making the learning process more transparent to teachers and students alike. There are many digital platforms that could allow for the intellectual creations of our students to be open to other learners. Students of CBL should have the opportunity to participate in various scholarly communities of discussion which many educational technologies provide. I look forward to learning more about this interesting approach to education and the implications for educational technologies.
6 Comments
Dan
6/7/2017 03:40:47 pm
Jimmy,
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Nai Saelee
6/7/2017 03:47:35 pm
Hi Jimmy,
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Nancy
6/7/2017 04:41:37 pm
Jimmy,
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Jimmy,
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6/7/2017 08:55:13 pm
I truly believe we should teach to the whole person and give them support to reach their goals. The grading and keeping records for large classes that some of our schools have would be very challenging.
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Patrick
6/7/2017 09:50:49 pm
I like what you say about the need for authentic assessments. I think of math examples like Khan Academy or Prodigy. They are HIGHLY personalized, students are practicing things that are relevant to their skill level. However, I am not sure I would consider a Khan Academy mastery challenge in graphing to be "authentic." Prodigy is a highly engaging game for students and they look forward to challenges, but does student interest equal authenticity? What could an authentic assessment look like? A letter to a professional? A mock work sample? It raises a lot of questions
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