Competency Based Education with Lucas Kavlie

WGU Sage Advice with Chris Bonnell

Episode 02: Show Notes.

Achieving a baccalaureate degree in a single year sounds impossible, but what if accreditation was based on competency instead of credit hours? Today, we are discussing competency-based education with the Vice President of Western Governors University, Lucas Kavlie. Tune in to hear the story of Lucas’s background with accreditation, compliance, and institutional effectiveness, before studying cyber and education law. We go on to discuss why Western Governors University prioritizes competency-based education and how they ensure that every person who is accredited progresses fairly. Lucas explains that growth is not the primary goal of the university and tells us why, before explaining why there is a shrinking gap between secondary and post-secondary education. Tune in to hear all this and more today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• What motivated Lucas to study accreditation, compliance, and institutional effectiveness.
• How the State Authorization Mandate led Lucas to study cyber law and education law.
• Assisting with the Association of Governing Boards and the President's forum.
• Stepping into a role as Vice President to manage compliance, accreditation and academic engagement.
• Competency-based education and what it entails.
• How Western Governors University enables people with no experience in higher education to get a baccalaureate degree within a year.
• What motivates them to choose this structure.
• How they have managed to facilitate fast-paced learning and accreditation.
• The meticulous steps taken that ensure there’s no ability for someone to progress unfairly.
• Contrasting competency based education with the traditional credit hour.
• Lucas responds to Chris’s mention of the number 300 000.
• His prediction for future graduate growth.
• A reminder that growth is not the major goal of Western Governors University.
• Their goal to show the world that this is a better way to approach higher education.
• The shrinking gap between secondary and post-secondary education.
• What commencement means: the beginning.

Tweetables:

“We're still trying to ensure that what an individual needs to know is assessed in a way that the individual does have what needs to be known in order to be successful out in the field. We know it works.” — Lucas Kavlie [0:09:08]

“We have some individuals who come into Western Governors University, having not done higher education before, and they leave Western Governors University within a year with a baccalaureate degree.” — Lucas Kavlie [0:10:14]

“Through psychometrically sound and legally defensible methodologies, we've established the way to ascertain that this person does know what needs to be known, regardless of where the individual obtains that knowledge.” — Lucas Kavlie [0:11:04]

“Western Governors University has figured out how to say, let's not worry about time. Let's worry about competence.” — Lucas Kavlie [0:17:58]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Lucas Kavlie on LinkedIn
Lucas Kavlie on Twitter

Western Governors University