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Brandman U. to Offer ‘Competency-Based’ Degree

Brandman University in Irvine is testing an online-only bachelor’s degree in business administration based on a “direct assessment” of student knowledge rather than a traditional university system of units per course.

The nonprofit school—part of the Orange-based Chapman University system—plans a formal launch of the program in February. It is one of four schools with direct-assessment programs approved by the U.S. Department of Education to offer financial aid for direct assessment.

Direct assessment is one aspect of a developing trend called “competency-based education,” an approach that has schools first testing students on what they know from work experience and what they might have retained from prior college coursework.

Students then work through studies covering areas—or competencies—they still need to master to qualify for a degree.

“You only need to learn what you don’t know,” said Brandman Chancellor and Chief Executive Gary Brahm.

Competency-based education comes with questions about the kind of learning involved and its value.

Recent years have seen stricter scrutiny of the claims, costs and professional benefits of higher education.

And an Education Department audit in September called for tighter oversight of the process for approving schools’ direct assessment programs for students to receive federal financial aid.

Brahm said Brandman’s efforts clearly answer such concerns, and he points to the timing of its approval on financial aid as evidence. The go-ahead from federal regulators came in October, after the call for tougher oversight.

Brandman spent two years and $10 million developing its program—“$3 million on content development alone,” Brahm said—and earned accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Core Clients

He said the program is designed for Brandman’s core clients—adult professional learners who need education to advance a career, and the companies that employ them.

The school said both groups—it surveyed 102 organizations, with 90% responding positively to the program outline—want bachelor’s degrees that apply directly to the work they do daily.

“It’s practical knowledge, skills and abilities to do their jobs well,” said Nick Lacy, director of competency-based programs, who oversees the degree. “Organizations value mastery.”

Brahm said 23% to 46% of Brandman students are in one or more groups that regulators and educators see as “high-need” for higher education, including ethnic minorities, lower-income earners and military veterans.

News reports on competency-based education have estimated 43 million U.S. employees have done some work toward a bachelor’s degree and might benefit from the approach.

The current test of the degree program has 44 students from 27 companies—mostly in Orange County—working the bugs out of the program. They started the “beta test” in October and are completing competencies and responding to weekly surveys about how the program works or doesn’t.

Members of the test class will go through the program tuition-free.

Cost

Brandman said the program will cost $2,700 per six months. Total costs will vary based on a determination of what competency areas students still need to study after their initial assessment.

The time-based fee, meanwhile, lets students work at their own pace, Brandman said.

It’s also an incentive for working steadily, since students pay a six-month fee no matter how many—or how few—competencies they complete.

There are four degree emphases, and each has about 80 competencies, including liberal arts studies. The four emphasis areas are in marketing, information technology, organizational leadership and supply chain management.

Tablet

Students work from an app, and competencies are meant to be taken through a tablet computer. The app is designed to reflect the influence of social media—it allows students to communicate via an element that resembles a Facebook discussion, for example, and awards “badges” to signify competency completion.

The online-only degree extends Brandman’s reach beyond its 28 physical locations in Washington and California.

“It’s personalized learning at scale,” Brahm said.

Brandman has about 12,000 students systemwide.

Spokesperson Joe Cockrell said 528 people have signed on to the waiting list for the new degree.

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