Competency-Based Learning Models: A Necessary Future

We are in the early stages of a learning revolution. New learning pathways have been forged by intense competition from organizations whose sole purpose is to deliver learning (anytime and anywhere) and by rapid advances in information technology. Forged by expediency, these paths no longer lead automatically to institutions of higher education. Instead they lead most directly to learning opportunities that are intensely focused and are populated by learners and employers who are chiefly interested in the shortest route to results. In this paradigm, learning products are defined explicitly, delivery options are multiple, and a level of granularity not captured by traditional student transcripts (which display only credit hours and course titles) drives assessment. Most postsecondary institutions have been slow to accept these emerging realities, preferring instead to continue to package curricula in the standard lengths of the academic term and in traditional delivery formats. The bridge between the traditional paradigm, which depends on traditional credit hour measures of student achievement, and the learning revolution can be found in competency-based approaches. At a minimum, the shift in how potential students view their expanded learning options— especially issues connected to convenience—should cause most institutions to examine the menu of their current offerings. There is, however, often a considerable gap between intentions and actions. The difference creates an emerging field in which institutional researchers can play a major role. The threat to traditional postsecondary institutions brought about by the movement toward competencies has not gone wholly unrecognized. The demand for certification of competencies that is not met by traditional higher educational providers defies measurement because there is no reporting