Ed-Lines January/February 2023

The Only Way to Teach!

In the last two Blogs we have dealt with the What is? and the How? As well as the Traditional vs Competency. Let us now turn our attention to the Benefits of one of the most powerful pedagogical styles of transacting education in the classroom. The benefits of Competency-Based Education for today’s learners.

We know competency-based learning is a self-directed and self-paced student-centred approach. We also have been told that this is the best pedagogy to go by in every classroom. CBE mainly determines application of and final achievement of content, skills and abilities, hence it is beneficial for learners/students and teaching institutions. Thus, leading students to be able to achieve mastery over the content taught while allowing teaching institutions to achieve their long-term goals of making their students 21st century learners equipped to deal with all real-world scenarios.

We have been told this over and over again.

So having said that, let us now talk in some detail of the benefits of CBE to the learner of today. We can break it down further under these headings.

CBE is a personalized way of teaching, where the student and teacher work on a one on one basis, thus ensuring, that students work at  their own pace. Further to this is the flexibility of time and place it affords the learner to conduct their learning. This would then mean the student does not have to wait for onsite instructions from the physically present teacher to impart learning, and the student can avail of the online platform which had become a necessity during the Covid pandemic; and has now become an integral part of all classroom teaching, where they can reach out to their teachers with any difficulties they may face or  may encounter along their learning path. This in turn will ensure that all learning becomes purpose-driven so as to enhance student experiences.

Thus, allowing for different teaching strategies to welcome non-traditional learners. Making it a more skill-based training program that ensures quality over content. This will take us a step further in the right direction – A ticket to gain real-world experience – confidently and with aplomb.

Competency-based education programs will subsequently produce more competent student graduates who have gained mastery in all subjects rather than in only one sphere of their education. It also means that by the time they are ready to face the outside world, they are job-ready.

Timely support, feedback and assessments to the student then becomes the need of the hour. Assessments, that are based on different learning patterns of the student, and feedback, must be regular, continuous and on-going. As mentioned, assessments and grading which are novel in their approach and manner, keeping in mind the individual learning styles and abilities of the student are a must. An approach one cannot overlook or dismiss or even put on the backburner of the learning curve.

Our next port of call is affordability</strong . A minor benefit but an important one nonetheless. Taking affordability onboard basically means helping students heading out for higher career paths in education, to be confident in their areas of competency quickly when the need to showcase their ability in the outside world arises. Thus, saving time and money.

Competency-based education can also push students to be more mindful of their productivity levels. Students may work to finish their studies faster than the recommended period to gain said benefits.

In summarise – the Benefits of competency-based education can be listed as under:

• students work at own pace to achieve success
• teacher can define clear goals, achievement and completion of tasks
• teacher can sketch visible learning objectives and graphs
• teachers will use different strategies
• learning resources anytime, anywhere
• better use of IT by teacher and student