Purdue is the first to adopt a competency-based curriculum

No exams, no grades, and no GPA

Have you ever walked out of an exam feeling like you just demolished your grade? Do the amount of credit hours you need to take each semester feel daunting? Do you cry over your homework periodically? Some students won’t have to worry anymore because Purdue has heard your cries — at least the Polytechnic students’ cries.

Last week, Purdue’s Polytechnic Institute was granted approval to adopt a competency-based learning program that assess students based on their competency instead of how well they perform on exams, which is what many would agree learning should be like.

According to Benzinga, students will have to successfully complete eight competencies online, and instead of grades, students will earn digital badges after completing each competency.

The types of online courses in the program are focused on assessing student’s critical business skills such as leadership, communications, decision making and critical thinking, the types of skills that can be applied to various disciplines.

The competency program was created by the CPA Center of Excellence® and Purdue began the implementation process in 2014 to see how it would work. A new pilot program was also initiated in 2014 as part of the implementation. The competency program has been approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the Regional Accreditation Agency, and the Higher Learning Commission.

The final stages are in progress, and the program is planned to be completed by the summer. A rule proposal was written by the CPA Center of Excellence® in 2015 and still needs approval from Board of Accountancy, the Governor, the Attorney General and the Indiana Economic Council before the program can be official.

This makes Purdue the first major university to adopt a competency-based program. Benzinga spoke with Indiana CPA Society President and CEO Gary Bolinger, who believes competency-based programs are the learning methods of the future.

“A competency-based approach is the foundation for the future of learning at both the student and professional levels,” said Bolinger. “While we have been breaking new ground in this area at the professional education level with the CPA Center of Excellence®, we applaud Purdue for their work in competency-based learning for higher education. Together, both of us representing the state of Indiana have achieved leader status and are paving the way for others to follow.”

Hopefully, if the CPA program is successful for the Polytechnic Institute, Purdue will adopt it into other colleges on campus as well. So stop stress-eating and put down that waterproof mascara, you won’t need it. This is proof that future learning might actually be based upon our abilities instead of how well we can conform to a supposedly general learning approach.

 

 

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