Competency-based credentials - this is a big deal

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Friday, October 24. 2014

Competency-based credentials - this is a big deal

I know a guy who got an A+ in Physical Chemistry at an elite university, and never went to class. He needed the spare time to practice with his grunge band. He told me he spent 24 hours non-stop going through the textbook with the help of some borrowed Adderal.

I suspect he missed a lot of interesting stuff, but he got the competency.

There are plenty of reasons for "seat time" in many areas of study, but certainly not in all. For example, there really are no valid criteria (in my view) for competency in Art History, or in history for that matter.

Here's the idea: Hacking Higher Ed With Competency-Based Education

Related, competency exams may be racially-biased via disparate impact. Here's that whole story, from Bill McMorris: How the Supreme Court Created the Student Loan Bubble - It all starts with Griggs v. Duke Power Co.

Posted by The Barrister in Education, Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects, Our Essays at 11:51 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Can we get this for the Political Classes too????

#1 fred zeppelin on 2014-10-24 11:56 (Reply)

I was a math major and never went to math class. It's in the book.

#2 rhhardin (Link) on 2014-10-24 12:06 (Reply)

Doesn't work in a case-study style business class. Class participation was over 50% of the grade. The competencies we were learning were showing up for important meetings properly prepared and making meaningful contributions.

#3 NJSoldier on 2014-10-24 12:30 (Reply)

This will not work in law school, rote learning will produce only the most mediocre of lawyers. Law school professors are notorious for the "hide the ball" style of teaching, but what they're really doing (the best of them) is teaching students how to think.

For another view, "The Maintenance Of Certification Exam As Fetish".

http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2014/04/the_maintenance_of_certificati.html

#4 William of Tangerine on 2014-10-24 12:47 (Reply)

I would merely posit that both Shakespeare and Hitler were right about members of the bar. But then again, it is merely 99% of lawyers who give the REST a bad name...

#4.1 Mark Matis on 2014-10-24 16:39 (Reply)

I'm every bad stereotype you've ever heard about lawyers, and some you haven't heard of yet. I'm why you pay so much for liability insurance and why your neighborhood is overrun with illegal alien forest slum peasants. I know every tax loophole and I get away with everything. And I've done everything in my power to pervert the whatever you think the Founding Fathers stood for.

#4.1.1 William of Tangerine on 2014-10-24 19:37 (Reply)

I am pursuing a credential through a competency based university and I enjoy it except that I occasionally miss the interaction of exploring ideas with teachers and classmates. I chose it because I felt that other programs had too much "fluff" and associated costs.

#5 ama on 2014-10-24 15:22 (Reply)

I know a guy who got an A+ in Physical Chemistry at an elite university, and never went to class.

In a tough course like PChem, you are going to learn the material on your own. My experience was that if I didn't review the material before the lecture, the lecture went over my head.

I found out the best approach was to intensively go over the material before class. The lecture was then used not to learn, but to reinforce what I had already learned.

The prof was a very competent lecturer. Very well organized, so my approach was in no way a reflection of his competence as a lecturer, but a reflection of the difficulty of the material.
Also: practice exams were quite helpful.

He told me he spent 24 hours non-stop going through the textbook with the help of some borrowed Adderal.
I am not at that intellectual level.

#6 Gringo on 2014-10-25 23:32 (Reply)

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Friday, October 24. 2014

Competency-based credentials - this is a big deal