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ABSTRACT
A systematic competency-based learning system known simply as Competency Based Education (CBE) has been advocated by scholars for more than thirty years (see Greenhill, Metz, & Stander, 1982). Originally associated with vocational learning it has, in the last 15 years, represented an educational paradigm shift in higher education with external accreditation bodies now "requiring units of higher education to document how they know that graduating students have obtained the necessary competencies that support their respective degrees" (Rivenbark & Jacobson, 2014, p. 181).
CBE programs, like traditional education programs, are outcome-based and are assessed in a similar way. However, unlike traditional programs, assessment of the student's attainment of the competency is the only indicator determining the successful or unsuccessful attainment of the credential/degree. Key to a CBE approach is the definition of competency. The U.S. Department of Education (2000, p. 1) defines competency as a "combination of skills, abilities and knowledge needed to perform a task in a specific context". Mastery of a competency is thus the only determinant of progress. For traditional academic institutions, CBE moves education from an academic focus (what graduates need to know from an academician's point of view) to a workplace focus (what graduates need to know and do in a variety of complex workplace situations).
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current models of CBE, requirements by the U.S. federal government for funding, accreditation concerns and lastly, how to allay the natural concerns of faculty and administrators who may feel threaten by the required reengineering of their curriculum delivery methods and process of assessing student learning.
Keywords: Competency Based Education (CBE), Prior Learning (PL), Assessment, Credit Hour
1.Introduction
A systematic competency based learning system known as Competency Based Education (CBE) has been advocated by scholars for more than thirty years (see Greenhill, Metz, & Stander, 1982; Voorhees, 2001). Research by Klein-Colins (2013, p. 4) suggests that the "original impetus to create CBE programs was the changing demographic make-up of U.S. college students". This view supports Brock's (2010) earlier research findings that higher education become more accessible to adults because of the passing of the Higher Education Act of 1965 plus other federal programs provided at the time.
In retrospect, the authors can see that CBE...