scholarly journals Investigating student exposure to competency-based education

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Ryan ◽  
Joshua D. Cox

In recent years, most U.S. states have revised policy by providing schools at least some flexibility to move away from the Carnegie unit system, with its focus on credits and “seat time,” toward competency-based policies that link student advancement to mastery of content. Yet, there is little systematically collected information about how competency-based education is implemented, making it difficult to evaluate the impact on student outcomes. Using data from 600 students in grades 9-12 and confirmatory factor analytic techniques, we report initial reliability and validity results from the pilot administration of a survey designed to capture student exposure to elements that have been described as essential to a competency-based, student-centered model for learning and instruction. These elements include mastery-based progression, personalization, flexible assessment, and the development of specific skills and dispositions. Results suggest that the survey offers a way to reliably measure and study variation in the implementation of competency-based education. Importantly, the survey provides a way to capture implementation from the student perspective, leveraging the fact that student reports about their classroom experiences may be a particularly reliable source of information about instructional practice. 

Author(s):  
James D. Basham ◽  
Skip Stahl ◽  
Tracey Hall ◽  
Richard Allen Carter Jr.

Within this chapter, technology-enhanced personalized learning is highlighted as a model for supporting all students in an inclusionary setting. Content of the chapter is focused on the birth, development, growth, and the eventual demise of a student-centered-model in one turn-around school district. The chapter focuses on the interplay of teacher methods and expectations; the impact of real-time progress data by students and teachers, and the points of contact where innovation collided with the expectations of traditional education practice. The authors also discuss various political elements that emerged as a result of the turnaround process. Finally, elements of the roles of teachers, technology, data, self-regulated learning, and competency-based education are discussed relative to establishing a student-centered learning environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-291
Author(s):  
Teressa Schmidt

Internationally, vocational education and training (VET) is intended to fulfil important economic and social objectives. There is, however, a concerning discourse relating to funding, esteem, reputation and quality, and questions have been raised about whether social mobility aspirations of the sector’s students are achieved or achievable. This paper argues that rather than resulting from deficiency or fault of VET, these issues are, instead, manifestations of the sector’s structural oppression. Further, unless this oppression is recognised and addressed as an underlying cause, VET’s troubles will remain. While acknowledging the claim may be contentious, the paper applies Freirean philosophy and contemporary critical social theory to examine the case of Australian VET, identifying the oppressive structures and policies which have progressively rendered the sector powerless and lacking the autonomy needed to enact positive and necessary change. It expounds upon Australian VET’s vulnerability to neoliberal educational reform along with the impact of competency based education and training (CBE/T), its reductionist curriculum, and the de-professionalisation of VET, its teachers and the vocations it serves, before proposing that any further reforms must be led from within the sector itself. While the paper focuses on Australian VET, its examination will likely hold meaning elsewhere.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 12-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin M. Woodward

Purpose – As a model of competency-based education (CBE), the University of Wisconsin (UW) System Flex options present a unique case study of challenges and opportunities for embedding student-centered library services and information literacy. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, we describe strategies for engaging with the evolving Flex curriculum, the needs of an unknown student body and the role of new student support staff. The author notes the relevance of examining the library’s role in Flex at this time, given the potential for growth nationally in CBE. Findings – The challenges the author faced initially were closely tied with opportunities that once examined, formed the basis of the embedded library model for competency-based education. Further, the author found opportunities to articulate their role in Flex on their campus and share with other institutions. Originality/value – This case study is based on the author’s experiences embedding Information Literacy and Distance Services in the Flex option at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 223-227
Author(s):  
Colleen A. Mayowski ◽  
Marie K. Norman ◽  
Wishwa N. Kapoor

IntroductionLittle has been published about competency-based education in academic medicine, in particular how competencies are or should be assessed. This paper re-examines a competency-based assessment for M.S. students in clinical research, and “assesses the assessment” 4 years into its implementation.MethodsData were gathered from student surveys and interviews with program advisors, and common themes were identified. We then made refinements to the assessment, and student surveys were administered to evaluate the impact of the changes.ResultsResearch results suggested the need to improve communication, time the assessment to align with skills development and opportunities for planning, streamline, and clarify expectations with examples and templates. After implementing these changes, data suggest that student satisfaction has improved without any reduction in academic rigor.ConclusionThe effective implementation of competency-based training in clinical and translational research requires the development of a scholarly literature on effective methods of assessment. This paper contributes to that nascent body of research.


Author(s):  
Melissa Wallace

In an attempt to analyze the reliability and validity of the most frequently used oral certification exams for court interpreters in the United States, this chapter examines the basic test model used for state-level certification through the lens of concepts in testing theory. Having identified several limitations to the currently used performance-based model, a hybrid model which includes competency-based education and assessment is proposed. By building on best practices in competency-based education, the alternative credentialing paradigm proposed here would represent an innovation in the context of court interpreter certification in the United States, requiring the transfer of assessment criteria usually used in traditional educational contexts into the realm of professional training. The proposed hybrid model would necessitate a shift from one high-stakes exam to assessment of a series of compartmentalized competency clusters that would account for soft skills and dispositional traits not currently assessed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Saeed ◽  
R. Tasmin ◽  
Ayyaz Mahmood ◽  
Aamer Hafeez

PurposeConsidering the relevance of operational excellence as a business strategy, organizations are striving to improve themselves by adopting best practices and universally accepted principles through the process of continuous improvement, and these principles should be embedded in the culture of an organization. Organizations pursue to align themselves by continuously improving their processes by adopting scientifically proven techniques and cultural transformation throughout the organization. However, there is a lack of scientific instruments for the assessment of operational excellence. The objective of this study is to develop a scale for the assessment of practices of operational excellence principles in the organizations. Further reliability and validity of the developed scale are measured by testing the relationship between Human Resource Practices (HRP) and Operational Excellence (OE).Design/methodology/approachThis study comprises quantitative design through exploratory and confirmatory studies and also includes qualitative analysis to develop a scale for the assessment of Operational Excellence (OE). Interviews from industry experts have been conducted to identify the major components for which organizations are striving for OE. Previous literature and excellence models, especially principles of the Shingo Operational Excellence Model (SOEM), have been reviewed and considered to finalize the scale items. Data were collected in two stages from both Telecommunication subsectors (Cellular Mobile Operators and Fixed Local Loop Operators) of Pakistan through the cross-sectional survey. In the first stage, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on the sample of 611 respondents from both Cellular Mobile and Fixed Local Loop operators of Pakistan. In the second stage, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the sample of 423 respondents from the Fixed local loop operators. EFA was conducted by using SPSS version 23 to finalize the OE scale, and for confirmatory factor analysis, PLS-SEM using Smart PLS was used to confirm the reliability and validity of the OE Scale.FindingsThe results of EFA reveal that OE is a multidimensional construct with three dimensions and 23 items. The dimensions of the developed OE Scale explored in this study are cultural enablers (CE), continuous process improvement (CPI) and enterprise alignment (EA). The confirmatory factor analysis of OE confirmed the scale dimensionality, reliability and validity along with the hypothesis testing to measure the impact of antecedent variable HRP on OE.Research limitations/implicationsOrganizations pursue to improve and align their operational processes but usually unable to confirm the implementation of their desired objectives. Based on the developed OE scale, managers may assess the implementation of OE principles in their organizations. This research has been conducted in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan only, and the developed instrument needs to be further tested in other organizations.Practical implicationsThe instrument developed in this study will help both researchers and practitioners to assess the principles of operational excellence in their organizations and enable them to design the strategies for improving organizational performance.Social implicationsThe results of this study will create awareness about the principles of operational excellence. The developed OE instrument will assist in identifying the gaps in organizational norms and values from the perspective of paying respect to every individual inside and outside the organization. OE instrument will be further helpful in the identification and assurance of health, safety, protection of the environment and community issues.Originality/valueThis study provides a reliable and validated scale for the scientific area of operation management and helps managers with the assessment of operational excellence in their organizations. This newly developed scale is also valid to test and use in different studies and industries by researchers and practitioners.


Author(s):  
Youngshik Kim ◽  
Yongwon Suh

In the field of organizational psychology, the study of task conflict and relationship conflict is noted. However, there seems to be a paucity in research clarifying relationship among organizational members that can reduce the impact of task conflict on relationship conflict. The purpose of this study is to conceptualization and scale development of organizational companionship, which mitigates the effects of task conflict on relationship conflict. In the first study, an in-depth interview was conducted in order to explore relationship-based factors that could reduce the effects of task conflict on relationship conflict. Such factors that reduce relationship conflict in presence of task conflict were defined as organizational companionship, and was conceptualized as being composed of five sub-factors-jeong, we-ness, mutual trust, loyal behavior, and responsibility-which were named based on literature review. In the second study, a scale for organizational companionship was developed based on the in-depth interview. The result of exploratory factor analysis using data of 310 participants showed a 5 factor structure with 28 items. It was also verified that organizational companionship reduced the effects of task conflict on relationship conflict. In the third study, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with a sample of 304 participants, and the results signified that the 5 factor structure indicated a satisfactory fit. Based on such findings, theoretical and practical implication, limitations, and suggestions for future research were discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
José Manuel Ríos Ariza ◽  
Antonio Matas-Terron ◽  
Rocío del Pilar Rumiche Chávarry ◽  
Gerardo Raúl Chunga Chinguel

Phubbing is defined as ignoring people with whom you have a face-to-face relationship to attend to smartphones. The phenomenon of phubbing particularly affects the teenage and young segments of the population. The main problem lies in the impact it has on individuals’ social relationship. A lack of validated instruments to diagnose this phenomenon has been observed amongst the Spanish-speaking youth. The objective pursued with this research was to analyse the structural validity and reliability of the Spanish scale in a sample of 454 Peruvian university students. A reliability study was carried out following Cronbach and McDonald, complemented with an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The results show good reliability and validity values. Finally, some aspects associated with users’ profiles in relation to the scale were discussed too. A need exists to have adapted instruments which permit to measure emerging social threats such as phubbing, so that risk profiles can be identified and for us to be able to act in time. Most of the students surveyed regularly engaged in phubbing, and a significant percentage of them had personal and social problems because of this, including lack of sleep hours or arguments with friends and relatives, to quote but two.


Author(s):  
Catherine Gonsalves ◽  
Zareen Zaidi

Purpose: There have been critiques that competency training, which defines the roles of a physician by simple, discrete tasks or measurable competencies, can cause students to compartmentalize and focus mainly on being assessed without understanding how the interconnected competencies help shape their role as future physicians. Losing the meaning and interaction of competencies can result in a focus on ‘doing the work of a physician’ rather than identity formation and ‘being a physician.’ This study aims to understand how competency-based education impacts the development of a medical student’s identity. Methods: Three ceramic models representing three core competencies ‘medical knowledge,’ ‘patient care,’ and ‘professionalism’ were used as sensitizing objects, while medical students reflected on the impact of competency-based education on identity formation. Qualitative analysis was used to identify common themes. Results: Students across all four years of medical school related to the ‘professionalism’ competency domain (50%). They reflected that ‘being an empathetic physician’ was the most important competency. Overall, students agreed that competency-based education played a significant role in the formation of their identity. Some students reflected on having difficulty in visualizing the interconnectedness between competencies, while others did not. Students reported that the assessment structure deemphasized ‘professionalism’ as a competency. Conclusion: Students perceive ‘professionalism’ as a competency that impacts their identity formation in the social role of ‘being a doctor,’ albeit a competency they are less likely to be assessed on. High-stakes exams, including the United States Medical Licensing Exam clinical skills exam, promote this perception.


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