2.Content is king, not technology.
Even though CBE is no longer a new concept in higher education, experts say there’s still a misconception that technology is what powers this alternative pathway.
“The CBE model brings a number of benefits to the learner—from flexibility and accessibility to personalization and adaptivity,” writes Jade Roth, CEO of Flat World Education. “…because these advances have been spurred by new technological capabilities, conversations around CBE often center on code, platforms, and how the technology products themselves change the learning experience.”
However, Roth argues that when technology is deployed solely for technology’s sake, it can create additional hurdles for students, such as having an application that forces students to leave the platform to download, removing them from the immersive learning experience. As a result, study sessions are derailed.
“And, if we design new assessment techniques without considering differences between teaching English and teaching computer science, there is a good chance the result will be generic multiple choice questions instead of interactive engagement with the content,” he writes.
Roth emphasizes that in a CBE program, because students work through the material more independently then in a traditional course, content has the opportunity to take center stage.
“When we focus on the content first, we ensure that the technology is deployed in the service of the subject matter: activities can be tailored to specific skills that need to be built for the subject, and assessments can accurately read how students are interacting with the material.”
[Read more about CBE content here.]
3.Faculty is still critical to success.
Just like with any student learning, talented faculty remains key to student success, both in achievement and comprehension—but not in the traditional sense.
Brandman University, a nonprofit institution that focuses primarily on adult education, launched its first CBE offering in 2014. The university advises that in order to successfully implement alternative education pathways, the role of the faculty must evolve to an “unbundling” approach, which Brandman calls the “unbundled faculty model.”
While traditional faculty are still responsible for the curriculum, a whole new category of instructors called “tutorial faculty” use Flat World dashboards to monitor student progress. “When a student needs help, they contact the student,” said Gary Brahm, chancellor and CEO of Brandman University. “Their primary responsibility is helping and teaching students.”
Another group of faculty is responsible for grading, while yet another, non-faculty group known as “coaches” tracks student activity. “Tutorial faculty monitor the students for their academic success, but our coaches monitor students for their engagement,” said Brahm. “We find it helps students be successful and helps them prioritize their time. We think it’s really important.”
[Read about Brandman’s program here.]
National Louis University is another example of an institution that refocused faculty for their professional pathways program. The program uses an adaptive online learning platform to help students and faculty focus on what content is critical to cover in class.
Online, media-integrated courseware replaces a traditional print-based textbook. Online, students build foundational knowledge and are able to practice and get feedback on what they’ve learned whenever it is best suited to their schedule. Instructors are able to review online data before class, and can then customize their teaching to focus on areas that gave the students the most trouble online.
“It’s a different way for students to learn and teachers to teach,” said Acrobatiq CEO Eric Frank. “Some were a bit skeptical at first, but now they think it’s better. Teachers especially almost never had insight and data under the hood like this…they didn’t all know exactly what to do with it at first. But NLU let each individual professor decide what they want to do with it. We also have teachers with innovative uses teach their peers what they’re doing with the data.”
[Read more about National Louis University’s pathway here.]
(Next page: 2 more considerations for alternative education)
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