Web Tools Power Competency-Based Learning
"Online learning tools support competency-based learning by creating an organized, well-scaffolded environment that encourages teachers, students and parents to talk about the skills and knowledge that students need to thrive in the modern world and find a career path that works for them."
As more and more states encourage their schools and districts to embrace the principles of competency-based learning, teachers are finding that CBL requires a higher level of documentation, accountability, and communication than any previous approach. That’s because competency-based learning allows student needs and outcomes to drive and pace education rather than pre-packaged, content-based curricula. That means each student requires more individualized coaching time, better, more accessible resources and more time and space to practice. Creating the perfect environment to support this kind of learning requires leveraging educational technology to transform the classroom.
Online learning tools support competency-based learning by creating an organized, well-scaffolded environment that encourages teachers, students and parents to talk about the skills and knowledge that students need to thrive in the modern world and find a career path that works for them. Using an online competency-based platform, teachers and students can identify both class-wide and individualized competencies or skill targets and track student progress toward mastery. This creates an evidence-based workflow, in which students can connect learning experiences, projects, assessments and authentic real-world experiences to their competency targets to show the evolution of their skills and understanding.
An online competency-based platform also provides a lively, supportive space for teachers, students, administrators and parents to have important conversations about long- and short-term goals as well as progress toward them. Using the platform, stakeholders can schedule times to conference, share valuable resources with each other, reflect on learning or suggest ways to personalize the learning experience. This creates a dedicated space for each student in which they and their support network can discuss and think about their educational journey and the tools they’ll need for lifelong success.
The most valuable quality of a strong competency-based platform is its open-endedness. Competency-based learning as an approach appreciates that each learner must find their own authentic process and workflow to make education accessible and meaningful. That means flexibility and customization must be available to make the process work. Although these ideals presented a nearly insurmountable challenge in the traditional classroom, online tech tools have created opportunities to transform education and create a meaningful, competency-based learning experience for each student.
To learn more about web tools that support competency-based learning, schedule a demo of Epiphany Learning’s myLC today!