competency-based learning/education

Translating Competency Based Education (CBE) Vision into Learning Design [reDesign]

On 04/17/2025, in competency-based learning/education, education, education reform, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, podcasting, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

FOOD FOR THOUGHT + DISCUSSION
Translating CBE Vision into Learning Design

What if your Portrait of a Graduate could shape every unit, lesson, and conversation you’re building? Check out one of our most requested resources, The Teacher’s First Steps Guide, created in partnership with schools in South Carolina.
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Unpack the vision.
Start with small-group conversations about your graduate profile – where are you aligned? What feels fuzzy?

Connect to practice.
Use Future9 or your own framework to translate vision into observable skills.

Prototype with purpose.
Invite teachers to refine a task or lesson using one of the guide’s steps

Addendum on 4/21/25:

A Close Look at Competency-Based Learning — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez

And despite not getting that original question answered, the search did lead me to something called competency-based learning. Although I was vaguely familiar with it — I believed it was in the same ballpark as standards-based learning and mastery learning, which we’ve seen in the Modern Classrooms approach — I had never looked closely at it. So I’m doing that now. I invited three people onto the podcast who have a lot of experience and success with this approach:

Susie Bell, Executive Director of Programs at the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), an organization that supports schools in implementing competency-based learning.
Heather Messer, a teacher and advisor at a Wisconsin school where competency-based learning is a school-wide practice.
Beth Blankenship, an English teacher who has figured out how to use competency-based learning at her Virginia high school, a school that still uses traditional grading.

Building the lawyer of the future [Furlong]

On 11/21/2024, in career development, change, changing business models, competency-based learning/education, Emotion, ethics, law schools, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Building the lawyer of the future — from jordanfurlong.substack.com by Jordan Furlong
Here’s my latest “Future Lawyer Starter Kit.” Tell me what you think.

Building upon this knowledge foundation, I suggest that future lawyers should develop the following ten human competencies (through a completely overhauled education, training, and licensing process, but that’s a topic for another day):

Acting ethically
Advocating and negotiating
Demonstrating character
Displaying empathy
Exercising judgment
Giving advice
Reasoning legally
Relating with people
Resolving conflicts
Solving problems

6 Ways State Policymakers Can Build More Future-Focused Education Systems — from gettingsmart.com by Jennifer Kabaker

Key Points

Guided by a vision – often captured as a Portrait of a Graduate – co-constructed with local leaders, community members, students, and families, state policymakers can develop policies that equitably and effectively support students and educators in transforming learning experiences.
The Aurora Institute highlights the importance of collaborative efforts in creating education systems that truly meet the diverse needs of every student.

The Aurora Institute has spent years working with states looking to advance competency-based systems, and has identified a set of key state policy levers that policymakers can put into action to build more personalized and competency-based systems. These shifts should be guided by a vision–co-constructed with local leaders, community members, students, and families–for what students need to know and be able to do upon graduating.

Career Pathways In A Rapidly Changing World: US Career Pathways Story — from gettingsmart.com by Paul Herdman

Key Points

There has been a move away from the traditional “Bachelor’s or Bust” mentality towards recognizing the value of diverse career pathways that may not necessarily require a four-year degree.
Local entities such as states, school districts, and private organizations have played a crucial role in implementing and scaling up career pathways programs.

While much has been written on this topic (see resources below), this post, in the context of our OECD study of five Anglophone countries, will attempt to provide a backdrop on what was happening at the federal level in the U.S. over the last several decades to help catalyze this shift in career pathways and offer a snapshot of how this work is evolving in two very different states—Delaware and Texas.

U.S. public, private and charter schools in 5 charts — from pewresearch.org by Katherine Schaeffer
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OpenAI is testing ChatGPT’s ability to remember things + other items re: AI in general

On 02/14/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, education technology, emerging technologies, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, Open AI, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, tools, youth, by Daniel Christian

We’re testing ChatGPT’s ability to remember things you discuss to make future chats more helpful.

This feature is being rolled out to a small portion of Free and Plus users, and it’s easy to turn on or off. https://t.co/1Tv355oa7V pic.twitter.com/BsFinBSTbs

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 13, 2024

From DSC:
This would be huge for all of our learning ecosystems, as the learning agents could remember where a particular student or employee is at in terms of their learning curve for a particular topic.

Say What? Chat With RTX Brings Custom Chatbot to NVIDIA RTX AI PCs — from blogs.nvidia.com
Tech demo gives anyone with an RTX GPU the power of a personalized GPT chatbot.

? BREAKING: Nvidia just released Chat with RTX, an AI chatbot that runs locally on your PC.

It can summarize or search documents across your PC's files and even YouTube videos and playlists.

The chatbot runs locally, meaning results are fast, you can use it without the… pic.twitter.com/je3gzOs45I

— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) February 13, 2024

Four Disruptive Trends For Higher Ed In 2024 — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn

More colleges will close or merge.
Online learning will continue to have its moment, but a shakeout is beginning.
Big colleges and universities will get bigger.
Apprenticeships will gain more traction outside of the trades.

Speaking of higher education and disruptions, also see the following item — via Ray Schroeder on LinkedIn:

Experts predicted dozens of colleges would close in 2023 – and they were right — from hechingerreport.org by Olivia Sanchez
Even more colleges will likely close in coming years as enrollment problems worsen

Though college enrollment seems to be stabilizing after the pandemic disruptions, predictions for the next 15 years are grim. Colleges will be hurt financially by fewer tuition-paying students, and many will have to merge with other institutions or make significant changes to the way they operate if they want to keep their doors open.

At least 30 colleges closed their only or final campus in the first 10 months of 2023, including 14 nonprofit colleges and 16 for-profit colleges, according to an analysis of federal data by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. Among nonprofits, this came on the heels of 2022, when 23 of them closed, along with 25 for-profit institutions. Before 2022, the greatest number of nonprofit colleges that closed in a single year was 13.

How to Co-Design Curriculum: Fostering Inclusivity through Shared Family Narratives — from gettingsmart.com by Jimmy McCue

Key Points

Discover a learner-centric curriculum at Embark Education, where learners recently co-designed a transformative project centered around family narratives and recipes.
Explore the intersection of culinary traditions, empathy, and critical analysis as learners delve into the complexities of cultural revitalization, shifting demographics, and systemic inequities in their communities.
Engage with a hands-on approach to competency-based education, culminating in the creation of a culturally rich product in collaboration with local community partners, fostering a deep sense of pride and ownership among learners and their respective communities, alike.

From DSC:
I especially like the learner-centered approach, along with the collaboration with local community partners here. As described in Getting Smart’s Smart Update:

Microschool Spotlight: Embark Education

Getting Smart admires Embark Education’s innovative approach for reimagining the middle school experience, recognizing the pivotal nature of adolescence. With a commitment to providing personalized and relevant learning experiences, Embark supports learners in courageously exploring, engaging, and discovering their sense of self, contributing to the broader mission of revolutionizing education.

“We are anchored in the unwavering belief that by simply trusting learners, both youth and adults, we create the conditions for them to curiously and confidently unlock their potential – and that their potential is limitless.” – Brian Hyosaka, Head of School

AI University for UK? [Clark]

On 01/05/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, change, changing business models, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, credentialing, culture, curriculum, Design Thinking, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

AI University for UK? — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Tertiary Education in the UK needs a fresh idea. What we need is an initiative on the same scale as The Open University, kicked off over 50 years ago.
…
It is clear that an educational vision is needed and I think the best starting point is that outlined and executed by Paul LeBlanc at SNHU. It is substantial, well articulated and has worked in what has become the largest University in the US.

It would be based on the competence model, with a focus on skills shortages. Here’s a starter with 25 ideas, a manifesto of sorts, based on lessons learnt from other successful models:

Non-traditional students in terms of age and background
Quick and easy application process
Personalised learning using AI
Multimodal from the start
Full range of summarisation, create self-assessment, dialogue tools
Focus on generative learning using AI
…and Donald lists many more (ending at #25)

Exploring blockchain’s potential impact on the education sector — from e27.co by Moch Akbar Azzihad M
By the year 2024, the application of blockchain technology is anticipated to have a substantial influence on the education sector

Areas mentioned include:

Credentials that are both secure and able to be verified
Records of accomplishments that are not hidden
Enrollment process that is both streamlined and automated
Storage of information that is both secure and decentralised
Financing and decentralised operations

Where a developing, new kind of learning ecosystem is likely headed [Christian]

On 11/17/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, heutagogy, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, marketplaces, microlearning, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, skills, social learning / networks, society, streams of content, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technologies for your home, training / L&D, trends, TVs, ubiquitous learning, United States, universities, using teams, vendors, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As I’ve long stated on the Learning from the Living [Class]Room vision, we are heading toward a new AI-empowered learning platform — where humans play a critically important role in making this new learning ecosystem work.

Along these lines, I ran into this site out on X/Twitter. We’ll see how this unfolds, but it will be an interesting space to watch.

From DSC:
This future learning platform will also focus on developing skills and competencies. Along those lines, see:

Scale for Skills-First — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
An ed-tech giant’s ambitious moves into digital credentialing and learner records.

A Digital Canvas for Skills
Instructure was a player in the skills and credentials space before its recent acquisition of Parchment, a digital transcript company. But that $800M move made many observers wonder if Instructure can develop digital records of skills that learners, colleges, and employers might actually use broadly.
…

Ultimately, he says, the CLR approach will allow students to bring these various learning types into a coherent format for employers.

Instructure seeks a leadership role in working with other organizations to establish common standards for credentials and learner records, to help create consistency. The company collaborates closely with 1EdTech. And last month it helped launch the 1EdTech TrustEd Microcredential Coalition, which aims to increase quality and trust in digital credentials.

Paul also links to 1EDTECH’s page regarding the Comprehensive Learning Record

Upskilling Workers to Match Workforce Demands [Koch]

On 11/02/2023, in adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, skills, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Upskilling Workers to Match Workforce Demands — from learningguild.com by Brad Koch

If the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by the general public in 2023 has taught us anything, it’s that much of the world is growing more comfortable with this technology and businesses will soon follow in individuals’ footsteps. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 published earlier this year reinforces the trend: More than 75% of companies are looking to adopt big data, cloud computing, and AI in the next five years.

At the same time, the report notes that 44% of workers’ core skills are expected to change in the next five years. Not only will workplaces need to equip their employees with the necessary skills to use the technologies being implemented, but they will also need to make sure employees have the skills to fill the roles that artificial intelligence cannot. Here’s how companies can prepare their workers for shifting demands in the next five years.

Expand industry-relevant training and partnerships with educational institutions

Also from learningguild.com, see:

Two L&D Trends to Follow: Personalization & Social Learning — by Pamela Hogle

Competency-Based Education (CBE) Learning Platform Architecture White Paper [Feldstein]

On 10/18/2023, in career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, computer science, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, personalized/customized learning, platforms, programming, tools, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Competency-Based Education (CBE) Learning Platform Architecture White Paper — from eliterate.us by Michael Feldstein

The core principles
The four basic principles for an LMS or learning platform to support CBE are simple:

Separate skill tree:
Mastery learning:
Integration:
Evidence of achievement:

Preparing Students for the AI-Enhanced Workforce — from insidehighered.com by Ray Schroeder
Our graduating and certificate-completing students need documented generative AI skills, and they need them now.

The common adage repeated again and again is that AI will not take your job; a person with AI skills will replace you. The learners we are teaching this fall who will be entering, re-entering or seeking advancement in the workforce at the end of the year or in the spring must become demonstrably skilled in using generative AI. The vast majority of white-collar jobs will demand the efficiencies and flexibilities defined by generative AI now and in the future. As higher education institutions, we will be called upon to document and validate generative AI skills.

AI image generators: 10 tools, 10 classroom uses — from ditchthattextbook.com by Matt Miller

A Majority of New Teachers Aren’t Prepared to Teach With Technology. What’s the Fix? — from edweek.org by Alyson Klein

Think all incoming teachers have a natural facility with technology just because most are digital natives? Think again.

Teacher preparation programs have a long way to go in preparing prospective educators to teach with technology, according to a report released September 12 by the International Society for Technology in Education, a nonprofit.

In fact, more than half of incoming teachers—56 percent—lack confidence in using learning technology prior to entering the classroom, according to survey data included with the report.

5 Actual Use Cases of AI in Education: Newsletter #68 — from transcend.substack.com by Alberto Arenaza
What areas has AI truly impacted educators, learners & workers?

AI Copilot for educators, managers and leaders
Flipped ~~Classrooms~~ Chatbots
AI to assess complex answers
AI as a language learning tool
AI to brainstorm ideas

AI-Powered Higher Ed — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
What a House of Commons round table discussion tells us about how AI will impact the purpose of higher education

In this week’s blog post I’ll summarise the discussion and share what we agreed would be the most likely new model of assessment in HE in the post-AI world.

But this in turn raises a bigger question: why do people go to university, and what is the role of higher education in the twenty first century? Is it to create the workforce of the future? Or an institution for developing deep and original domain expertise? Can and should it be both?

How To Develop Computational Thinkers — from iste.org by Jorge Valenzuela

In my previous position with Richmond Public Schools, we chose to dive in with computational thinking, programming and coding, in that order. I recommend building computational thinking (CT) competency first by helping students recognize and apply the four elements of CT to familiar problems/situations. Computational thinking should come first because it’s the highest order of problem-solving, is a cross-curricular skill and is understandable to both machines and humans. Here are the four components of CT and how to help students understand them.

What if you could have a conversation with your notes? [Pierce]

On 08/28/2023, in adjunct faculty, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Design Thinking, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, faculty/staff, future, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, productivity / tips and tricks, research, student-related, teachers, tools, United States, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Google’s AI-powered note-taking app is the messy beginning of something great — from theverge.com by David Pierce; via AI Insider
NotebookLM is a neat research tool with some big ideas. It’s still rough and new, but it feels like Google is onto something.

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

What if you could have a conversation with your notes? That question has consumed a corner of the internet recently, as companies like Dropbox, Box, Notion, and others have built generative AI tools that let you interact with and create new things from the data you already have in their systems.

Google’s version of this is called NotebookLM. It’s an AI-powered research tool that is meant to help you organize and interact with your own notes.
…
Right now, it’s really just a prototype, but a small team inside the company has been trying to figure out what an AI notebook might look like.

Will one of our future learning ecosystems look like a Discord server type of service? [Christian]

On 08/17/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, adult learning, Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, distance education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, Emotion, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, future, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, internet, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, lifelong learning, love of learning, microlearning, multimedia, new business models, online learning, online media, online tutoring, passions, personalized/customized learning, platforms, play, simulations, skills, social learning / networks, society, streams of content, student-related, technologies for your home, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

DC: Is the future of one of our powerful learning ecosystems more like adding your own desired groups/cohorts, topics, items, etc. to your server? Like a learning-focused type of Discord service? (https://t.co/Vq4dZamBf2)#future #learningecosystems #personalizedlearning pic.twitter.com/wVMWYBN3R1

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 17, 2023

Every State Now Lets Schools Measure Students’ Success Based on Mastery, Not Seat Time [Stanford]

On 06/06/2023, in competency-based learning/education, education, education reform, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, legislatures / government / legal, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Every State Now Lets Schools Measure Students’ Success Based on Mastery, Not Seat Time — from edweek.org by Libby Stanford; via EdTech Thoughts

Excerpt:

With the pilot project, Wyoming has become the final state to allow competency-based learning in some form, marking a historic point in a growing, albeit slow, movement in favor of a model that emphasizes students’ achievement rather than the set 13-year academic schedule. That movement—long championed by many high-profile education leaders—has seen a handful of states embrace competency-based education faster than others and uneven progress within those states.

In Wyoming, it’s part of a three-pronged effort to move the state toward what State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder calls “student-centered learning,” which is heavier on personalized and project-based learning that emphasize the development of problem-solving skills and letting students test-drive different career pathways.

Learning Ecosystems

Building the lawyer of the future [Furlong]

“Four Disruptive Trends For Higher Ed In 2024” [Horn] + other items re: higher education

Competency-Based Education (CBE) Learning Platform Architecture White Paper [Feldstein]

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