New Designs for School
Exploring the Potential of Competency-Based Education
Holly Morris
Principal
Summit Strategies
in Seattle, WA
Topics
We’ve all had the experience of truly purposeful, authentic learning and know how valuable it is. Educators are taking the best of what we know about learning, student support, effective instruction, and interpersonal skill-building to completely reimagine schools so that students experience that kind of purposeful learning all day, every day.
In partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the League for Innovation in the Community College, EDUCAUSE and NGLC have joined forces to present the second annual Breakthrough Models Incubator.
The Breakthrough Models Incubator kicks off in Washington, D.C.
For the next 2.5 days, nine institutional teams of university and college presidents and other top executives are setting aside their busy daily schedules to focus on exciting new programs for students.
In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the League for Innovation in the Community College, EDUCAUSE and NGLC have joined forces to present the second annual Breakthrough Models Incubator. This year, all nine teams will focus on development of competency-based education (CBE) degree-sequence programs, which reward students for skills acquired rather than time spent in the classroom.
Each Incubator team is expected to develop a CBE degree-sequence program to expand access, affordability, quality learning and degree attainment for their students—combining new technologies to design programs with a goal of launching them within one year.
During this initial planning phase, teams will participate in workshops on design thinking, learning innovations, business models and academic planning. They’ll hear from a variety of guest speakers, who will address infrastructure and implementation, accreditation, and faculty engagement.
This year’s incubator brings participating teams from across the country, including:
- Antioch University
- Austin Community College
- Central Wyoming College
- Empire State College–SUNY
- Excelsior College
- Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education/Commonwealth College
- Paul Smith’s College
- University of Maryland-University College
- University of New England
As part of the process, teams will also have access to executive coaches and content experts who will offer guidance and feedback throughout all three phases of the program: the initial planning phase, the model design phase and the launch phase.
Follow along all this week on Twitter: #Incubator14.
Holly Morris
Principal, Summit Strategies
Holly Morris is Principal at Summit Strategies. How we act on the challenges of higher education now will determine where America stands in the future. We must cultivate our individual and collective potential by navigating these shifts in our educational landscape with creativity, flexibility, humanity and vision.
