Today, nevertheless, theres an obstacle to the centuries-old “binge-and-purge” technique– so-called due to the fact that trainees stuff their brains full of truths, then regurgitate them on tests (frequently to be summarily forgotten). Competency-based education is beginning to take hold.

A lot of trainees today still take the same lessons from the same instructors in the same format– and they must pass the very same tests to graduate. Of course, college permits variations in core curricula, however within each class or curriculum, the content, delivery, and assessment are fixed. Over the course of their 12-year education (plus 2, 4, or 8 more in university), students ingest, remember, and practice the materials provided, then take tests to receive a certificate to show they “found out” it.

Its been almost four centuries since the very first official classrooms appeared in what would ultimately end up being the United States. The earliest example of a public school was the Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, the very first to relieve families of having to educate their kids at home in the “3 Rs”– reading, writing, and math.

Despite enormous changes in society and innovation considering that colonial times, something hasnt altered much: the method we teach, test, and pass our trainees along to the next level– or into their adult working lives.

What is competency-based education, and why is it so various?

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Kevin Stringfellow, Associate Director of Client Solutions, ExamSoftKevin Stringfellow is the Associate Director of Client Solutions at ExamSoft. He has more than 10 years of combined experience in higher education and EdTech integrating making use of evaluation technologies for knowing. His experience includes supporting evaluations and their procedures as the Program Manager for Evaluation and Assessment at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He is enthusiastic about utilizing technologies to better the education process and utilize data to notify and direct.

Of course, higher education enables for variations in courses of study, however within each classroom or curriculum, the assessment, shipment, and material are repaired. Over the course of their 12-year education (plus 2, four, or eight more in university), trainees consume, remember, and practice the products presented, then take tests to get a certificate to prove they “found out” it.

Traditional time- or credits-based education is like a deal, almost as though the student is acquiring the right to be informed within a specific time frame.

Traditional time- or credits-based education is like a transaction, nearly as though the student is buying the right to be educated within a specific amount of time. It tends to promote memorization rather than the application of knowledge. Students intend to acquire something important from the deal, naturally, but when assessing the understanding theyve gained, its simply a matter of satisfying a typically arbitrary 70-percent threshold. The bestowed certification typically doesnt equate to real applied understanding.