Southeast may let online students learn at their own pace

Southeast Missouri State University leaders are exploring how the university may help its students earn their online degrees without time constraints by implementing WGU Missouri's education model.

Last fall, David Starrett, dean of academic information services and director of Kent Library at Southeast, attended a seminar hosted by WGU Missouri to learn more about its competency-based education model.

"Competency-based education is a different approach to teaching," Starrett said.

The traditional way is to have quarters or semesters, he said, which set the amount of time students have to complete a course, making time a constant and learning a variable.

That could be hurtful, however, to those who need more time to master a subject.

But WGU's competency model "flips that completely around" by allowing students to learn at their own pace, making time the variable and learning the constant. A not-for-profit online university, WGU Missouri was founded in 2013 under the umbrella of Western Governors University, which debuted in 1997.

WGU Missouri has 1,400 students and more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in fields such as business, K-12 teacher education, information technology and health.

Angie Besendorfer, chancellor of WGU Missouri, said WGU has been hosting seminars to explain how its model works.

"We became very transparent so that other universities could see the competency-based education process and determine how that can fit within their own world," she said.

"We believe we can be a leader in helping change higher education."

Students at WGU earn a degree through demonstration of skills and knowledge in required subject areas. Students also can skip parts of the curriculum if their assessments show they are proficient in the subject area.

"If they already know something, then they don't waste their time with busy work and doing activities," Besendorfer said.

The model appeals to nontraditional students, she said, who already may have some college experience and are working full- or part-time.

Starrett co-chairs a committee looking into implementing competency-based education at Southeast. University leaders are still in preliminary discussions, and a timeline hasn't been set.

But Starrett estimated within a couple years, Southeast will try a pilot program for a graduate degree or certificate, likely limited to a single department.

"We would take off a small bite and see if we can do it first," he said.

klamb@semissourian.com

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