Competency Based Education and iNacol's 5 Principles

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. Today we're going to look at contemporary competency-based education in conjunction with iNACOL's 5 principles. So for today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Nelson Mandela which states, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

Now, by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to review the history of CBE, examine the role of CBE in curriculum, and you'll be able to explore the 5 Design Principles of CBE.

Now, when we look at competency-based education and its connection to iNACOL's 5 principles, I want to focus first in on the history of competency-based education. It was introduced in the 1960s. That's when it really came into play. And it was introduced to help ensure that students were taught college and career readiness skills in high school, so that we're preparing them to go out into the world.

Competency-based education is really based on the idea of outcomes-based education, or OBE, which is where all of the instruction is really designed with the outcomes first, working backwards then so that you ensure that everything is designed around those outcomes. So curriculum is considered designed backwards, hence the outcomes-based education.

Also, one of the benefits of outcomes-based education, or CBE, is that it can be implemented using both face-to-face education, so traditional education, online education, or more popularly recently, hybrid models of various types of instruction.

Finally, it's important to note that CBE really allows for that self-pacing, so that students are working through at their own level. And the outcomes can be tied to real-world applications. So it can feel much more relevant for students.

Now, let's take a look at CBE and competency-based curriculum. So CBE is really the working definition of competency-based education's 5 principles. In 2011, an organization called iNACOL organized this educational summit to discuss various elements of competency-based education. Included in this summit were educators, instructional leaders, educational advocates-- everyone who was there to help see what is a better way for us to be teaching to our students.

And during this summit, there were 5 design principles that were developed when we look at competency education. So the first of which was that students are going to advance upon demonstrated mastery. The second was that there should be explicit and measurable learning objectives that are designed to really empower students' learning. The third is that assessment needs to be meaningful, that these learning experiences need to be positive for the student.

The fourth is that students are to receive differentiated support, and that this differentiated support needs to be rapid, immediate, so that students are getting what they need based on where they are in their learning process. And the fifth is that the learning outcomes need to include the application or the creation of knowledge, the idea that students are taking what they're learning, and they're able to move it beyond the classroom walls.

Let's go ahead and really focus in on analyzing competency-based education according to the 5 components of iNACOL's CBE. So first, students advance upon demonstrated mastery. What we're looking at here is the idea that all students need to be able to demonstrate that they are proficient, that they have learned a specific competency, before moving on to the next one.

Second, we're focusing in on those ideas of explicit and measurable learning objectives-- the idea that teachers are providing very clear expectations so that students know exactly what they need to do in order to move on. The third area is that that assessment needs to be meaningful. So common assessments are often used to help measure that mastery, and the assessment is always based on those standards and seeing that students are reaching proficiency within those standards. But it needs to be a meaningful assessment so that students feel like there is that purpose involved.

The fourth area is that students are able to receive that differentiated support. If students are not able to show or demonstrate that they have that mastery, then there need to be interventions and additional learning opportunities so that student can demonstrate mastery. We don't just give up and move on and sweep over it.

Finally, there's that learning outcomes include that application in the creation of knowledge, that the expectations that we have are set on the idea that they're the same for all students. And yet, they can be differentiated. They can be adapted so that students really are able to personalize that learning.

Now that you've reached the end of the lesson, you are able to review the history of CBE. You've been able to examine the role of CBE in curriculum, and you've been able to explore the 5 design principles of CBE. Now that you've learned about contemporary competency-based education, what do you think would be the first step you would take to implement elements of iNACOL's 5 design principles into your curriculum development?

As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you might want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to the resources chosen to help you deepen your learning, and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set.