Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) will introduce a new type of learning this summer that may someday give students in any course of study an alternative way to earn a degree or certificate.
It’s called competency-based education, or CBE, and it will allow students to learn at their own pace and in their own time, outside the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom. They can speed through classes in which they already know the subject matter — if they can demonstrate mastery of the material — and take more time in classes where the material is less familiar.
Tri-C will launch its CBE experiment in the fall semester, starting Aug. 28, with a post-degree professional certificate program in cybersecurity. The program will run for two 16-week semesters, although some students might finish in less time, perhaps even in one semester.
Charles Dull, dean of Tri-C’s Center of Excellence in Information Technology, which includes the cybersecurity program, says CBE isn’t for everyone.
“It’s all about what fits you,” Dull says. “Some people need little instruction because they can work with videos or software and do a live demonstration of their abilities online. Or they just need a question answered by email. It’s really about a person’s learning style.”
CBE is new to Tri-C, but not to the world of education. Dull says CBE is already an option at colleges like the University of New Hampshire. Western Governors University, based in Salt Lake City, offers nothing but CBE programs.
Meanwhile, the Aurora Institute, which advocates for advancements in education, reports that CBE has made inroads in K-12 schools in nearly every state in the country.
Dull says if CBE in cybersecurity is successful, Tri-C will next bring CBE to its programing and development design and data analysianalyticss courses. It’s possible that one day CBE alternatives will be available in every course and educational program at Tri-C.
“I’m not sure we’ll get there, but that would be the ideal,” Dull says.
A Logical Match
Tri-C’s first incursion into CBE is in cybersecurity partly because it’s a rapidly growing profession. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of cybersecurity jobs was expected to grow by 35% from 2021 through 2031.
Worldwide, about 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs remain unfilled, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. In the United States alone, the number exceeds 660,000, Cyberseek reports.
The job growth is occurring because cybercrime is on the rise. Dull says banks now have separate cybersecurity departments where information security analysts do nothing but monitor their computers all day, looking for the next threat or hack.
Tri-C is providing a CBE cybersecurity option at the post degree graduate level (you only need an associate degree to get into the program) to appeal to students who are already in the profession and need updates in their education, or to those who are switching careers and might have cybersecurity knowledge.
“One of our first students who enrolled in CBE has a master’s degree but needs to upskill,” Dull says. “They can finish some cybersecurity classes in a couple of weeks, which is something this person liked about the CBE program.”
Another reason cybersecurity was chosen for the pilot CBE program was simply that Tri-C is outstanding at teaching cybersecurity. In 2018, the college placed a team in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition and took first place in Ohio. The victory came just one year after Tri-C launched its traditional cybersecurity program.
Dull says the process of creating the CBE cybersecurity program took two years. First, faculty attended a summer camp organized by the Competency Based Education Network, or C-BEN, a network of educational institutions, corporations and service providers that promote CBE.
Tri-C’s cybersecurity instructors, through the summer camp and other training conferences, became experts in CBE. The college assembled a cross-
functional team of faculty, financial aid
advisors, academic counselors and enrollment and registration workers to determine how CBE would work there.
Stepping into CBE
At Tri-C, prospective CBE students will initially meet with counselors to watch an orientation video and determine if the program is appropriate for them.
“Counselors can advise students and know whether they are a good fit for CBE or the traditional cybersecurity program,” Dull says. “The counselors almost have to know as much about CBE as the faculty teaching it.”
Students deemed good candidates for CBE will make an educational plan with their counselors and work with an assigned faculty member in person and through email and online meetings, whichever combination works best.
In CBE, students will watch snippets of video instruction. They might create their own security systems in virtual machines. Group projects are a possibility, depending on the number of students in the program and whether they are on the same level.
“We want to make sure we’re simulating a cyber environment as closely as possible as students move through the program so that it gives them an idea what to expect in the work environment and the knowledge they need to get to that work environment,” Dull says.
Dull says it’s now possible to build an entire cybernetwork in a virtual world. That kind of technology wasn’t available five or six years ago and might be adapted for the CBE program.
“It’s the first time we’ve done this, so we will provide a lot of hands-on services to see what their needs are, both students and the faculty,” Dull says. “We will learn more along the way.”
As for evaluating student performance, Dull says the CBE program will likely utilize several different assessments. Students might be assigned a project involving a series of activities to see if they gained the competencies they need. In some cases, they would have to show 100% competency.
“The cybersecurity course might even revert to old-fashioned tests because there is a high degree of knowledge involved, and you have to score very high to pass,” Dull says.
Tri-C will also evaluate CBE itself throughout the school year. Obviously, C-BEN believes the method works. However, a study published in the Journal of Competency-Based Education says results have been mixed.
Dull says any form of online education isn’t the best choice for all students, as shown during the COVID-19 pandemic, when K-12 schools across the county reverted to online and hybrid classes, only to see students falling behind and angry parents complaining at school board meetings.
“With CBE, you have to manage your time really well,” Dull says.
