Ideas and Updates

This document explores process competencies in competency-based education (CBE), focusing on skills like design thinking and problem-solving. It presents three approaches to define them: step-by-step (clear sequences), descriptive (key characteristics), and product-centered (outcome-based). Each approach has benefits and limitations in assessment. A combined approach is recommended to capture both the process and results effectively.

Validity is everything in assessment. It means that assessment does what it says— measures what it is intended to measure, providing accurate and meaningful results. During assessment development, C3Be uses a rigorous process that promotes validity. Cognitive labs are powerful tools for finding and removing threats to an assessment’s validity.

In a recent project, C3Be worked with EnterpriseKC to define attributes needed for success in entry-level cybersecurity occupations and develop assessments measuring these attributes. Current published definitions of employability skills have been abstracted to generic concepts, broadly applicable across many fields. They may not represent the specific contexts and needs of the cybersecurity field, nor the perspectives of the diverse range of stakeholders.

Center for Certification & Competency-Based Education (C3Be) has launched the Competency-Based Education Research Journal (CBERJ), which serves to advance knowledge of competency-based education through empirical investigations, theory development articles and integrative conceptual reviews.

In this C3Be Blog interview, Marie Kohart, a senior instructional designer with Jayhawk Flex at the University of Kansas (KU), and Katja Hakel, a Full Professor in Academic Development at the University of Agder (UiA) in Norway, discuss the vital intersection of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), accessibility, and Competency-Based Education (CBE).