COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION
AND
NAU’S PERSONALIZED LEARNING INITIATIVE
Frederick Hurst ,
Senior Vice President for NAU Extended Campuses
Cori Gordon ,
Lead Faculty for Liberal Arts in Personalized Learning
November 21, 2013
PERSONALIZED LEARNING INITIATIVE
Northern Arizona University’s
Personalized Learning enables
motivated students to earn a
high quality degree more efficiently and at a
lower cost by customizing coursework to fit
individual learning styles and previously
acquired knowledge.
PL OVERVIEW
•Self-paced, online, adaptive learning
•Mentor faculty
•Readiness assessment
•Curriculum is interdisciplinary and prescribed - there
are no electives
•Every concept - multiple modalities
•Pre-, interim, post-assessments
NAU’S PERSONALIZED LEARNING
Three majors
– Computer Information Technology
– Small Business Administration
– Liberal Arts
$2500 for 6-month subscription (all inclusive)
Students start any day of the year
General education requirements constructed in a modular fashion
to produce six distinct degree paths; there are no electives
Highly structured student path from first contact to first lesson
AGGRESSIVE TIMETABLE
•First 3 programs developed and launched in less than
a year
•Approved by HLC on May 21st
•Understanding to offer U.S. DoEd – Title IV in August
•Students enrolled; ~1200 prospects
•500 student goal in first year; 8,000 in five years
•Three new programs second year
PERSONALIZED LEARNING STUDENTS
Student Demographics
•
Non-traditional and traditional students
•
Varying levels of college experience
•
Varying reasons for choosing PL
Student Experience
• Reaction to self-paced format
• Time on task in lessons
• Performance on assessments; completion of credits
MOVING FROM CREDIT TO COMPETENCY
Traditional
Bachelor Degree
Student takes approximately 40
courses from Liberal Studies,
Language, Minor, and Major –
up to 120 credit units.
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
MOVING FROM CREDIT TO COMPETENCY
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabi
Deconstruction
40 Course Syllabi broken down
by Learning Outcomes
COLT/M
Syllabus
Syllabus
Courses are mapped to
each Lesson by the
learning outcomes
Syllabus
Syllabus
Syllabus
Competencies identified
PERSONALIZED LEARNING DASHBOARD
TRANSCRIPT VIEW FROM DASHBOARD
COMPETENCY REPORT