Challenges in
Learning Competency Design
By Prof. Jonathan
Acuña Solano
Sunday, October 18,
2015
Twitter: @jonacuso
Post 197
Competency-based
learning seems to be a great way to embark one’s students into real deep
learning, and a nice way to abandon any kind of surface learning practice in
teaching and learning. CBL comprises lots of nice ways of having students
develop their working competencies prior their setting their feet in a company.
But there are certain things we educators must keep in the lookout to avoid
standardizing competency evaluation, the use of CBL in licensure programs, and
the wrong conceptualization of what CBL entails.
Standardization
of competencies must be avoided. “According to Ralph Wolff, president of the
Western Association of Schools and Colleges, institutions must guard themselves
from standardizing the mechanisms in which competencies are demonstrated” (Gibson, 2013) . In the case that a
faculty member wants to start using competencies to guide his/her planning and
teaching, it is indispensable that these practices are carried out only within
his/her course. Unless two colleagues agree on working together and assessing
learners with the same competency instruments (tasks and rubrics), the use of
similar performance demonstrations to verify student understanding should be
avoided, especially if learners do not cover the same content and experience
the same in the classroom or in an online platform.
Competencies
need to be avoided in licensure programs. “A CBL model is an effective approach
to both education and practice. However, academic programs that require
professional licensure may be slow to embrace competency programs divorced from
any observable measures of contact hours” (Gibson, 2013) . Basically what Gibson is stating, and
which I agree with 100%, is that certain program such as the ones in medical
school (medicine, optometry, nursing, ophthalmology, etc.) are not exactly
ready “to embrace” the use of competencies to demonstrate content
understanding. A surgery is not the same kind of project if compared to a mock
up building in architecture or in civil engineering. In terms of monitoring and
the amount of time used to grasp the contents for the creation of a project
like this will take time, and not same lapse for an engineer or for a doctor.
The
correct conceptualization of what CBL entails must be guaranteed for student
learning and the right application of this teaching approach. How long does it
take an instructor to fully understand the domain of CBL? The answer is not
clear, especially if CBL theory is applied to it. “Students,” as well as
faculty members learning how to use CBL, “will enter […] at various levels of
competency and with diverse learning style preferences” (Laureate
Education, Inc., 2013) . Somehow instructors must be quite sure
that their understanding how CBL works must be ensure prior its use in a course
continuum. The right application of competency-based learning may take some
time to sink in, and it would also be a good idea that professors have a chance
to discuss their competency-developing projects with other colleagues to
guarantee that they are not off-track.
The
use of CBL in a higher education institution is a great idea. “By focusing on what you know rather than how much time
you spend learning competency-based education puts you in charge of your
education as never before” (Competency-Based Education: What It Is, How It’s Different, and Why It
Matters to You, 2014) . This is what the instructor must
always bear in mind and transmit the very same idea to his/her students. CBL
allows learners to be in charge of their learning and the demonstration of what
they are really learning in a course, not exactly inside the classroom.
References
Competency-Based Education: What It Is, How It’s Different,
and Why It Matters to You. (2014,
January 24). Retrieved from University of Wisconsin:
http://flex.wisconsin.edu/blog/competency-based-education-what-it-is-how-its-different-and-why-it-matters-to-you/
Gibson, C. (2013, August 2). Competency-Based Learning:
Four Challenges and Impediments. Retrieved from The Evolllution:
http://evolllution.com/opinions/competency-based-learning-challenges-impediments/
Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). Best Practices for
Designing Learning Competencies. Retrieved from Faculty Development:
https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/institution/LPS1
Laureate Education, Inc. (n.d.). Journal 2: Challenges
in Learning Competency Design. Retrieved from Faculty Development:
http://global3.laureate.net/#/home/faculty
Sunday, October 18, 2015
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