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Today, we're going to look at designing curriculum using CBE or Competency-Based Education. For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Steve Jobs, which says, "You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward."
Now, by the end of the lesson today, you will be able to review the five design principles of CBE within curriculum development.
Now, this is the International Association for K12 Online Learning. It's a nonprofit organization that is really focused on research and equity, especially when it comes to access and quality of technology. The goal is to have technology within a rich learning environment. And they develop design principles for educators to use when working with competency-based education to ensure that students are achieving very equal and quality access to technology.
Briefly, I want you to look at these five design principles. The principles can be used as a checklist for you to consider as you're developing your lessons or your units to ensure that the unit is within the true model of competency-based education. Or you can use these with your students as you start focusing on those skills that they're going to need to be competitive in the 21st century.
Design principle one states that students will not move on until they have reached mastery, the idea that students advance once they have demonstrated that mastery. What this looks like really is that students are only advancing when they show that they have mastery over a certain concept within your unit or lesson. And that demonstration needs to be facilitated by the teacher. So it's not student identified as the student saying, yes, I know how to do that. But rather, you have set out a measurable goal. And you've looked at it.
Students should be given work at that appropriately challenge them for their individual learning level so that they are being pushed forward. But we don't necessarily have all students do the exact same work. Students then are evaluated on their performance only. This eliminates the zeros in grade books for perhaps behavior or a lack of participation and really helps students and teachers recognize what specific skills the student has mastery over and what they don't.
Also, there's great flexibility in pacing. So there is an opportunity for some students to finish faster and others to be slower. And that's fine. Every student is learning at their own individual pace.
So an example of implementing this within your curriculum would be to set very clear expectations and to let those students know what they need to do in order to reach mastery. I would recommend setting a time period within a given unit or lesson when students can be measured for that or allowing yourself time within each class period for students to come up when they are ready to demonstrate mastery.
Design principle number two is that students are empowered by explicit and measurable learning objectives. The entire goal here is to help ensure that students are aware of what they need to be doing and how they will be measured so that they can feel more confident in their education.
As a result of this, the relationship between the student and the teacher really changes. The teachers become coaches or facilitators. And it's really the student getting more invested in the targets that they need to reach rather than a teacher saying, you must do this by this time or else we're moving on.
Also, units of learning become much more clearly defined. So it's much more manageable rather than saying, welcome to English 9. By the end of this class, you will be better at English. That's not really clear for most students. It's not clear for most teachers.
Also, learning can happen outside of the classroom. There are many more opportunities to ensure this because the units of learning are clearly defined. So students are able to not only see what those measured objectives are, but perhaps they can be measured objectives that don't even have to happen inside the classroom.
A great example of this would be if I were to do a unit on To Kill a Mockingbird, I would be able to set up very specific learning targets that I want students to achieve by the time we're done with To Kill a Mockingbird. And that way, as they're working through the novel, they're able to work on each of those individual targets, and I'm really helping them achieve that, as opposed to dictating what's happening at each individual moment.
Design principle three is assessment is meaningful and becomes a positive learning experience for students. What we focus on here is really formative assessments, as opposed to summative assessments. So these formative assessments mean that students are being tested continually throughout rather than just one huge test at the very end.
Everyone knows how stressful it is to have to study for one major test at the end of a class that determines your whole grade. That's not really a good learning environment for students. So formative assessments play a major role as students are being tested continually throughout that unit.
Teachers can also collaborate to determine someone's proficiency. Perhaps in your curriculum design, you are looking at a class that offers elements in both English and in social studies. Teachers can then come together to determine where that student is proficient at each individual target or objective.
Also, skills and concepts are then measured in many different ways so that the emphasis becomes a student learning the material, rather than the grade that they get at the end. They're either proficient or they're working towards proficiency rather than I have an A or a B or C.
Finally, summative assessment dates can be then adapted to the individual student. So rather than saying everyone takes this test on finals day, perhaps the formative assessments allow me to assess which students take the assessment early on versus which one might take a summative assessment on that day of the last class.
Design principle four is that students receive rapid, differentiated support. This is what really allows for that self-paced element of CBE. So within CBE, we really strive for flexible pacing so that all students are able to receive the support that they need. This is going to involve thinking about your classroom a little bit differently. But offering students that differentiated support might feel a little chaotic but in reality is really helping to individualized that education for students.
Also, there are interventions by teachers and specialists that can be offered. So sometimes, the differentiated support is as simple as sitting a student down and saying, let's go through this paper. And I really want to focus in this time on the way that you transition from paragraph to paragraph, helping to reach that target. Other times, you might want to call in a specialist to work with that student if the needs are greater. So there's a huge possibility for that.
Finally, there are lots of opportunity for adaptive learning that responds to the student mastery of concepts rather than reaching a certain date in our calendar. This really helps the students feel like they are achieving at their own level. And it removes the pressure that can really hinder education.
Design principle five is that learning outcomes emphasize creation and application of knowledge rather than, in my mind, just the grade. So CBE really requires that there is an application of learning in real-world setting. Competencies and objectives look at both academic standards but also focus in on the application of those skills and knowledge outside of the classroom, again, making education relevant for students who are saying, why do I need to know this, helping to give them a reason.
Also, various assessment rubrics can help indicate what a student should be able to know and be able to do, tying those elements into what they can use this information for outside of the classroom.
Also, student work can be used as an example or a model, helping to make it really concrete and clear for the student to know this is a good expectation of what this can look like. You can also use models for how the information they're learning now can be used in their careers or their 21st century learning.
Finally, there is a huge emphasis on 21st century skills with application outside of the classroom as we've talked about. So perhaps in an English class, I'm not only talking to them about To Kill a Mockingbird. But as we look at elements of prejudice, I can be setting standards that help encourage them to use their communication to help speak up and advocate for a group in need. And then we can talk about the 21st century ways in which you can do that if you wanted to go out and be an activist and work in public relations, something like that.
So a couple of tips that I want to leave you with before we finish up to day. First and foremost, competency-based education can be referred to as proficiency-based, performance-based, standards, mastery-based education. And students really need to receive personalized and differentiated education as often as possible to make this work. Otherwise, you're kind of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. And you're not really maximizing the benefit of CBE curriculum design.
Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you're able to review the five design principles of CBE in curriculum development. What do you think would be the first step you would take to begin implementing these in your classroom? As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you might want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies the video presentation. This is where you'll be able to find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set.
(00:00-00:14) Intro
(00:15-00:21) Objectives
(00:22-01:17) iNacol’s 5 Components of CBE
(01:18-03:01) Design Principle 1
(03:02-04:37) Design Principle 2
(04:38-06:08) Design Principle 3
(06:09-07:28) Design Principle 4
(07:29-09:03) Design Principle 5
(09:04-09:30) Tips
(09:31-09:38) Review
(09:39-10:00) Reflection
Developing A Competency Based Curriculum
This site includes training resources for West Virginia University's faculty on how to develop a competency based curriculum using a multi-stage process. Although this training is for the health sciences, it provides a clear model that can be generalized for any curriculum area.
https://www.hsc.wvu.edu/faculty-development/assessment-materials/developing-a-competency-based-curriculum/