Competency Based Learning
Credentialed Faculty PD Pathways with the OESIS Network
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One way in which many educators are turning the school experience around for students is with Competency Based Education in which the conversation becomes one about student voice and choice as well as agency in the learning process. Daniel Pink has talked about how intrinsic motivation is driven by the confluence of mastery, autonomy, and purpose. We need to provide our students with more of all three of these, and CBE allows teachers to do just that.
With CBE, students can take varied paths and reach the same goal, students can take charge of the process as well as the final products they create. While the goal is still to prepare students for rigorous and demanding educational experiences, it allows students to see the purpose, to have autonomy in their path and pace, and to feel the gratifying sense of achievement when they achieve competency of a standard or skill. More than just skills or standards, competencies can also include the specific knowledge or content understanding that will be important in the lives our students will live. In the classroom, on the playing field, on the stage, and in the hall with their peers, we can best prepare our students for the lives they will lead if we focus not only on the content we may feel it important for them to learn, but the life-long competencies such as the Four C’s: collaboration, communication, creativity, critical-thinking, or Tony Wagner's Seven Survival Skills. Schools may register academic faculty for cohort pathways that are verified by OESIS Network Leaders. Each pathway is designed to be completed within eight to 10 hours, featuring readings, videos, discussions, and assignments. There are 3 levels for each domain typically: Level 1 is Understanding the approach. Level 2 is Design and Level 3 is Implementation. Each Level earns a certificate and Level 3 earns a credential. OESIS Credentialing is Asynchronous feedback based on rubrics for level 1. Asynchronous and Synchronous with 1:1 Tutorial feedback for Level 2. An extra layer of Double Synchronous is added for Level 3. Some courses require and benefit from fieldwork assessment. Site visits are possible when a sufficient volume of teachers are involved.
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