New in Moodle 3.1: Support for Competency Based Education

September 8, 2016

Moodle 3.1 comes with a number of great new features, including support for Competency Based Education.

Competency Based Education (CBE) is widely used in education and corporate institutions.It is one of the most popular ways for learners to upskill.

CBE differs from traditional education in a number of ways;

  1. performance and qualification requirements are set out clearly, and,
  2. there are a variety of methods by which students can prove their competency. For example, instead of a three hour exam, CBE would appraise a student’s understanding through a range of mediums (e.g. exams, labs, workshops) and recognises prior knowledge and experience.
  3. CBE is also a self-driven process where students can learn at their own pace and on the job.

With Moodle 3.1, admins and teachers are now able to access the following CBE functionalities:

  • create competency frameworks within Moodle 3.1 and link them to courses.
  • import pre-existing frameworks with plugins. There are currently plugins to import competency frameworks from both CSV and XML/RDF formatted files.
  • manually add competencies to any task or course, which makes grading student work far more efficient.
  • access the additional handy feature of a competency breakdown report for each student.  This displays their competencies and competency ratings and gives educators a birds-eye view of which students are meeting course requirements and which require more assistance.
  • view the learning plan interface, where teachers can see evidence of prior learning submitted by students. By having their prior knowledge recognised, students are able to prove their proficiency and navigate through their work far more efficiently.
  • create learning plan templates. These can be applied to entire groups or individual students. Moodle 3.1 gives the gift of clarity by letting students view their learning plans. Competencies are listed and graded individually so students have a clear understanding of their academic progress.

To learn more about how Moodle 3.1 can help you with competency-based learning, contact one of our Moodle Partners today.