Core Elements of Competency-Based Learning
Competency-Based Learning or Competency-Based Education (CBE) has been growing in popularity since it was formalized as a teaching approach in the 1970s. By definition, competency-based learning encompasses any approach that allows students to advance based on their ability to master a skill or competency at their own pace. In the context of business education, CBE has unique benefits. Future business leaders need hands-on, practical experience in order to acquire, test, and refine critical skills for future commercial success, and a competency-based learning approach can help foster this.
But CBE involves more than just hands-on learning. It turns the traditional teaching format on its head and embraces a wholly student-driven learning experience that has implications for class structure, duration, and performance evaluation. Below, we provide a useful overview of the core elements of CBE to help illuminate just how unique this approach to learning truly is.