Competency-based education focuses on the learner acquiring a particular set of skills. Often the skills are linked with the workplace or a profession. Fifty-three percent of college graduates students believe they’re ready to apply their skills and knowledge in the workforce, but only 23% of employers agree. While higher education institutions are busy trying to redesign their current credit-bearing classes, open resources can be an immediate solution.
Why a shift toward competency-based education? After years of corporate America saying that their employees are not prepared (ie: they lack the required skills to be successful in the job) when they walk in the door, higher education is taking notice. The reaction is their effort to redesign and reengineer the formal degree and certificate programs to deliver a program designed to graduate students with workforce-related sills.
Why a shift toward open resources? The trend is two-fold. Initially, the attraction to “open resources” was the fact that they were available to anyone, anywhere, anytime for no fee. Educators first took advantage of the open material to supplement their credit-bearing courses. Eventually, students realized that there was a credible, free resource available to meet just-in-time type training needs.
How do they intersect? CBE focuses on a particular skill or competency – a discrete unit. Many open resources are also in discrete learning units. Combining these two components can create a robust portfolio for the learning providing lower cost and targeted skills. This session will focus on pathway examples using open resources, including Nanodegrees from Udacity; Specializations from Coursera; MicroMasters from edX; and Learning Paths from Lynda. This trend places learning in the hands of the employers, employee/students and universities. With companies moving toward identifying the competencies and higher education incorporating the competencies, the pathways are being created.
