Flat World CEO: Content, not tech, should be focus of CBE

By Tara García Mathewson | March 29, 2016

Dive Brief:

• Flat World Education CEO Jade Roth argues the discussion around development of competency-based education programs should not focus on technology at the core, but instead keep content and educators at the center of the learning experience.
• She writes for eCampus News that technology should be the enabler or the starting point for CBE programs while content is at the center and serves as the journey itself.
• When content is king, technology can be used in service of it, meaning programs are tailored to the subject matter and student learning is prioritized over the gadgets that facilitate it.

Dive Insight:

Hundreds of institutions are developing competency-based programs, and while the U.S. Department of Education has some work to do in creating consistent financial aid policy around it, institutions are seeing the self-paced model as a way to support the needs of students. CBE requires entirely new systems for higher education, including recruitment, admissions, financial aid, student tracking and transcripts. This makes it easy to get caught up in technology.

Most programs, though, start with a discussion of the competencies students will be expected to master to move from one part of a CBE program to another. Because this offers a foundation for everything that comes next, institutions have a way to keep content at the center of the development process. With discipline, it can be done.