{"id":2093,"date":"2015-05-20T11:30:40","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T16:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/?p=2093"},"modified":"2015-05-20T11:25:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T16:25:37","slug":"relationship-between-competency-based-education-and-direct-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/relationship-between-competency-based-education-and-direct-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education and Direct Assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Competency-based education has long been a pillar of Capella University\u2019s approach to education. Instead of simply logging hours in the classroom and taking exams, students must demonstrate their competencies<\/a>\u2014a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities\u2014as they move along the road to their degree. A business student, for example, might have to show she can read a balance sheet or craft a marketing plan before she moves on to the next level of learning. Key skills, abilities, and knowledge mastery must be shown.<\/p>\n

Capella\u2019s FlexPath<\/a> option, however, takes this competency-based education one step further. FlexPath students work independently and set their own pace. \u201cYou can go more quickly or more slowly based on what you\u2019ve got going on at that particular stage of your life\u201d says Kim Pearce, Academic Quality Analytics and Accreditation Director at Capella. Using suggested source materials or resources of their own choosing, students prepare themselves to demonstrate their competencies through real-world, authentic assessments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If material is familiar to a student (perhaps she often reads balance sheets at work, for instance), she may be able to complete the assessment and demonstrate the competency without much effort\u2014speeding up her progress. If the material is unfamiliar, however, she may choose to take more time to prepare herself. Or if her schedule doesn\u2019t allow sufficient time for study, she may put off taking the assessment until she is ready\u2014something that simply would not be possible in a traditional classroom or in Capella courses based on weekly units and quarterly terms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Technical Definition of Direct Assessment<\/h4>\n

Until recently, the value of education was measured on earned credit hours. In other words, the hours that students logged in the classroom were attached to credit values\u2014and these values helped education officials determine need for financial aid. Today, in order to qualify for federal financial aid, competency-based education providers can get approval to use direct assessment of learning, rather than time, to measure students\u2019 progress.<\/p>\n

So far, Capella is one of only six universities to gain approval for its direct assessment offering (FlexPath) from both their regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission in Capella\u2019s case, and the U.S. Department of Education.<\/p>\n

Capella has developed FlexPath options for undergraduate and graduate programs in Business, Information Technology, and Psychology, and the university expects to roll out additional FlexPath options in the future, Pearce says. What\u2019s more, FlexPath offers competency transcripts that can be used with current or future employers. \u201cIt lists out the competencies you\u2019ve demonstrated,\u201d Pearce says, \u201cso employers know exactly what skills you have. Graduates have used them to show they can do the work required for getting stretch projects or promotions. Employers don\u2019t have to guess at what your degree really stands for.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To learn more about competency-based education:<\/em><\/p>\n

The State of the Online University<\/a><\/p>\n

The Real Revolution in Online Education Isn\u2019t MOOCs<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To learn more about the direct assessment model:<\/em><\/p>\n

Innovative Direct Assessment Programs Show Promise <\/a><\/p>\n

Are You Competent? Prove It<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Competency-based education and direct assessment are related, but different. Learn more about how they work together and are revolutionizing higher education. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":2126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[73],"tags":[97,53],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2093"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2124,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2093\/revisions\/2124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}