Interactive Survey Please download the Socrative Student App for your iPhone or Android Room Number: N14822NE

Interactive Survey Survey Question 1 Room Number: N14822NE

Disclaimer Lest you think we have it all figured out… We are not experts—nor do we have all the answers. We are simply in the middle of a transition and have learned some very important lessons that we are sharing with you today. Some of our systems, namely enrollment, are probably different than the traditional model. Just because it’s working for us, may not necessarily mean that it will work for you. If we’ve learned anything this past year, it’s that the need for manual processes during this conversion is a must. Lastly, if you have questions that don’t get answered during the session, please feel free to contact any of us—even if it’s after the conference. We’re hoping to make this process easier for those schools considering CBE and we are happy to help!

Competency-based education combines an intentional and transparent approach to curricular design with an academic model in which the time it takes to demonstrate competencies varies and the expectations about learning are held constant. Students acquire and demonstrate their knowledge and skills by engaging in learning exercises, activities and experiences that align with clearly defined programmatic outcomes. Students receive proactive guidance and support from faculty and staff. Assessments are robust, meaningful, and authentic. Learners earn credentials by demonstrating mastery through multiple forms of assessment, often at a personalized pace. Definition from C-BEN What is Competency-Based Education?

“An accreditor will consider a program to be competency- based when all of the courses (for the program, for general education, for the major) have learning goals expressed as competencies approved at the program level (i.e., any instructor teaching a course will teach it as a competency-based course) and each student is required to demonstrate mastery of every competency in a course to earn credit… for such course.” (Regional Accreditors Announce Common Framework for Defining and Approving Competency-Based Education Programs) From the Accreditors What is Competency-Based Education?

C-BEN Video What is Competency-Based Education?

Variety of Universities Using CBE

Variety of Community Colleges Using CBE

Interactive Survey Survey Question 2 Room Number: N14822NE

Salt Lake Community College’s School of Applied Technology (SAT) Salt Lake Community College’s School of Applied Technology (SAT) Mission and Role Summary  Provide low-cost, short-term, open-entry training leading to high-wage, high-demand jobs.  Prepare economically and educationally disadvantaged students with a workforce skill.  Maintain a strong curriculum in CTE courses which can be articulated with credit CTE courses. Over 30 Program Offerings Business Office Technology Computer & Network Technology Culinary Arts Electronics Media and Web Design Professional Truck Driving HVAC Diesel Technician Welding Health Care Manual Machinist Career and Academic Readiness ESL

Clock-hour Model Challenges  SAT transitioning to CBE from a clock-hour model  Ongoing day-to-day clock-hour model operational challenges Student, Faculty, & Advising Concerns Inflexible student schedules Students penalized for completing early “Time in seat learning” Complex policies (tail wagging the dog) Inefficient manual processes Registrar & Financial Aid Office Concerns Are policies being followed? Administrative-level Concerns Inconsistent curriculum development and delivery approaches Faculty load discrepancies – required contact hours may be different depending on program area Complex policies - requests for exceptions occurring too frequently

Better SAT Approach to Education Faculty and administrative group collaboratively set out to address ongoing clock- hour model concerns by exploring Competency-based Education solutions. Why move to CBE? Summary of Goals: Improve student access, retention, and completions. Revise courses and programs to meet a new quality standard consistent throughout the school. Improve faculty and student engagement. Incentivize students to accelerate learning. Next Steps Towards Implementation Define how CBE would be implemented within the SAT. The group came to an agreement of SAT CBE terms Developed a handbook to support orienting instructors for CBE course development and delivery.

Collaborative Team Effort To support the transition to CBE, the SAT was not starting from scratch. Experienced Academic and Admissions Advisors Experienced Employment Advisors SAT-dedicated Assistant Registrar SAT-dedicated Financial Aid Officers SAT-specific transcripts Billing system to support open-entry Familiarity with IT systems (for good or bad)

CBE Solutions and Benefits Clock Hour ChallengesCBE Transition Solutions Inflexible Schedules. Expand hours of operation and allow students to attend any time during those hours. Create more online content allowing any time any where access. Penalized For Accelerated Progress. Students progress as quickly as they demonstrate content mastery through completion of summative assessments. Reward accelerated completion through reduced tuition costs. Inefficient Manual Processes. Adopt/create systems to simplify and automate processes.

CBE Solutions and Benefits (Cont.) Clock Hour ChallengesCBE Transition Solutions Complex policies.Consistent approach to development and delivery coupled with efficient systems = less complexity. Faculty load discrepancies. Recognize CBE as a new load type and provide loads for CBE instructors that are equitable across the institution. Inconsistent approach to curriculum development and delivery. Provide instructors with support resources, training, guidelines, and external review in transitioning courses to CBE modality.

Faculty-driven Decisions to Support Student Success Support for faculty in the transition. Round IV TAACCCT grant provides funding support to transition 20 of the SAT programs to CBE. Hiring of Instructional Designers (ID) and Assessment Designers (AD) who are CBE experts to support faculty. Faculty work as SMEs with IDs and ADs as courses are completely broken down and revised to meet the standard for SAT CBE offerings.

Curriculum Development Process – Transition From Clock Hour to CBE Process for a consistent and quality student experience across all CBE courses at SLCC. 1.Industry analysis 2.Identify and write competencies 3.Write objectives aligned to competencies 4.Align assessment to competencies 5.Identify instructional activities

Competencies, Objectives & Assessments Competencies: the measurable overarching skill, knowledge, or ability that the learner already has or will obtain after completing the course Relevant to real-world job tasks or responsibilities Learning Objectives: measureable, discrete goals that guide learning to obtain the competency The competency is “unpacked” into objectives Assessment: authentic (real-world), valid, reliable, aligned with and accurately measures the competency Objective exams, performance-based, projects

Example Template

Course Alignment Map

From the Trenches So What is Progress? No averaging Student progress tracking Weekly meaningful contact Systems and Processes

Over 125 students have enrolled in the past year and half – As more programs move to CBE, this will only increase Just now starting to see our first completers – Finishing at or above average (sooner than expected) No data yet on retention – Anecdotal evidence suggests we are trending a little better Very diverse audience – Current numbers show nearly 50/50 split in minority to non-minority populations – Largest minority audience is Hispanic at 35% of total Two years in… Where we are today

Interactive Survey Survey Question 3 Room Number: N14822NE

Q & A Questions?