Competency-Based Bachelor of Business Administration at Brandman University a CBE Case Study

Competency-Based Bachelor of Business Administration at Brandman University A CBE case study

This case study is part of a series on competency-based degree programs that have been emerging in recent years. The case studies are prepared by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) with funding from Lumina Foundation.

BRANDMAN’S BACHELOR OF BUSINESS Each competency is evaluated through an ADMINISTRATION PROGRAM: objective assessment that could take the form AN OVERVIEW of an auto-scored test, student project, or port- folio, as appropriate to the specific competency. In October 2014, Brandman University launched After graduation, which is expected to take about a competency-based direct assessment pro- two and a half years for students with a previous gram. Brandman University is a private, adult- degree or four years of study for students with no focused, non-profit institution based in California. previous college credit, the demonstrated com- The competency-based Bachelor of Business petencies are represented in dual transcripts that Administration (BBA) is a low-cost and flexible show both the competencies and the traditional alternative for adult and nontraditional students. course equivalents. This competency model draws on three educational frameworks: the Lumina Degree Qualifications PROGRAM SNAPSHOT Profile, the Association of American Colleges • Competency-based bachelor’s degree & Universities (AAC&U) Essential Learning in business administration, offered since Outcomes, and industry standards as detailed by October 2014 the Occupation Information Network (O*NET). • Students choose among four specializations Designers of the BBA program focused their atten- in the degree program, with each requiring tion on ensuring flexibility for the student through 56–61 competencies for the degree use of technology, offering high quality online con- • Student competencies are assessed for tent, and incorporating faculty expertise into the mastery at the end of each module design process. • Learning is tightly structured in a scaffolded The Brandman BBA degree takes place entirely format, meaning that students progress from online; it integrates text and video components, lower to higher levels of learning to ensure formative assessments within each competency, student success and faculty and academic coach interaction. • Program approved by regional accreditor, Brandman developed a catalogue of over 80 WASC competencies for the degree program. Students • Direct assessment approval by the U.S. choose one of four specializations: information Department of Education announced systems management, supply chain management October 2014 and logistics, management and organizational lead- • $5,400 yearly tuition, with each year split ership, or marketing. Depending on the specializa- into two six-month terms tion, the student must complete between 56 and 61 of the 80-plus competencies to earn a degree.

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in competency-based degree programs at the postsecondary level. These programs are promising for the future of higher education because they establish clear expectations for what graduates must know and be able to do, and many models have been designed to allow students to learn and earn a degree at their own pace. The emphasis on learning acquired rather than seat time is particularly important for adult and nontraditional learners who bring learning from their work and life experiences to higher education. Competency-based models allow students to build on what they already know to obtain a postsecondary credential.

BACKGROUND wholly competency-based degree program at Brandman. Brandman University, part of the Chapman In 2012, Brandman administrators surveyed University System, is an institution with 26 the landscape of higher education and conclud- campuses throughout the states of California ed that the time was right to become involved and Washington and includes robust online in a major change initiative. Competency-based offerings. The institution serves nearly 12,000 education had recently surfaced as a model with students per year. A majority of Brandman stu- growing momentum, and Brandman leadership dents enroll with considerable transfer credit, determined that CBE was a great way to respond and a primary focus of the university is to meet to changing student needs. They believed that a the needs of adult learners in dynamic and flex- CBE model would appeal to learners who are ible ways. interested in moving at their own pace, having Brandman first began looking at ways of incor- a subscription for unlimited access to academic porating competency-based education into its materials rather than paying per credit, and programs in 2011, after the release of Lumina’s using a variety of technologies—tablets, mobile Degree Qualification Profile (DQP). For its first applications, computers, etc.—in order to fulfill endeavor with competency-based education, requirements. Brandman chose to revise and refine its gen- As a first step in the development of a CBE eral education requirements based on compe- degree, administrators at Brandman began tencies drawn from not only the DQP but also by investigating what students themselves the AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s wanted and needed. The institution surveyed Promise (LEAP) Essential Learning Outcomes approximately 1,000 prospective students on as well as from the institution’s own mission the following five areas: 1) the viability of a and values (Klein-Collins, 2012). Brandman CBE degree program; 2) the target market for students are required to demonstrate com- CBE—millennials, newbies, adult learners; 3) petency in several areas: broad, integrative the most suitable degree programs for CBE; knowledge; applied learning; innovation and 4) the preferred business model for CBE— creativity; civic engagement; global cultures; accreditation, financial aid, self-service, online and integrated learning. Students demonstrate tutoring, liberal options for transfer of credit; competency through assessments that are and 5) the price that the market expects to embedded in all Brandman courses, with grad- pay. Based on the feedback from this survey, ing based on the AAC&U’s Valid Assessment of Brandman administrators and faculty began Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) working on a competency-based bachelor’s 2 rubrics. This adoption of a competency frame- degree in business administration with options work provided a foundation for building a for specialization.

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University IDENTIFYING THE COMPETENCIES Occupation Information Network, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor From the earlier DQP initiative, the program Employment and Training Administration. designers already had considerable expertise in defining the essential competencies of a Brandman The DQP and LEAP frameworks contributed to graduate and incorporating competency-based the building of a robust set of general education assessment approaches into degree programs. competencies to be embedded across all levels Therefore, when faced with the task of construct- of the new competency-based degree program. ing an entire degree based solely on competencies, First, program designers used these 2 frameworks Brandman chose to lean heavily on its own internal to identify 13 general education competencies expertise. that would be required for the BBA degree. Then, According to Laurie Dodge, vice chancellor of for the major-specific competencies and the spe- institutional assessment and planning, many insti- cialization requirements, program designers con- tutions that develop CBE programs choose to sulted a business advisory council; the standards follow a deconstruction/reconstruction model: of industry-specific certifications, such as the begin with an existing program, identify its learning American Medical Association; as well as the pub- outcomes, and reconstruct the program in a way licly available database O*NET, which provides that reflects the outcomes of the original. In con- hundreds of occupational definitions and learning trast, Brandman created the Bachelor of Business outcomes associated with specific jobs. Administration from the ground up, or with what Informed by these three frameworks, faculty Dodge calls a “framework approach,” starting with identified competencies in the form of outcome the end result first by asking questions like “What statements, which are robust statements of what should students be able to do, know, and under- the students should learn to do for each of the stand upon graduation?” The designers built the major academic areas of the degree. In order to degree by integrating competencies and outcomes ensure that the new program structure would not from three accepted frameworks: be a simple reconstruction of a traditional business program, administrators urged the faculty to 1. The Lumina Degree Qualifications Profile, avoid consulting the Brandman course catalogues which describes what students at the and instead focus on relevant discipline specific bachelor’s level need to know and be able outcomes. During this process, the faculty from to do: multiple disciplines worked together to ensure a. Knowledge (broad, integrative knowl- that the larger University Degree Qualifications edge and specialized knowledge) were embedded within each step of the program. b. Intellectual Skills Throughout the development process, the busi- c. Civic Learning ness advisory council provided feedback from d. Applied Learning the employer’s perspective, and the faculty mem- 2. The Essential Learning Outcomes bers provided feedback from the university’s per- articulated by the Association of American spective. This process produced a list of over 80 Colleges & Universities’ Liberal Education unique competencies that are part of the overall and America’s Promise initiative: BBA degree framework, divided among the three categories of general education, business core, a. Knowledge of Human Cultures and the and area of emphasis. Physical and Natural World The general education competencies are com- b. Intellectual and Practical Skills prised of 13 competencies in 6 subdomains. The c. Personal and Social Responsibility business core has 34 competencies in 7 sub- d. Integrative and Applied Learning domains. Each of the areas of emphasis has its 3 3. Industry standards as detailed by certain own subdomains and competencies. Examples of industry-specific certifications and by the each type of competency are provided in Table 1.

General Education • Information literacy: Evaluate and cite vari- • Communication ous information resources necessary to • Humanities complete an academic research project • Information literacy • Quantitative reasoning: Explain accurate • Natural sciences calculations and symbolic operations used • Quantitative reasoning to interpret social and economic trends • Social science

Business Core • Accounting, Economics, and Finance: • Accounting, economics, and finance Demonstrate how to account for long-term • Business law and ethics investment and financing decisions • Business strategy • Business law and ethics: Demonstrate • Information technology an understanding of whether a contrac- • Management and leadership tual relationship exists and satisfies legal • Marketing requirements • Supply chain/operations management (logistics)

Emphasis Area: Information Systems Management • Networks: Demonstrate an understanding Computer systems organization of networks, and create a network • Database • Programming: Develop a program for a • Fundamentals of management information systems business application (e.g., mobile or web- • Networking based applications) • Programming • Project management • Security

Table 2. Program Overview – Category and Number of Competencies CATEGORY NUMBER OF COMPETENCIES Note: Adapted from Competency-Based General Education 13 competencies Education: Program Overview, Program Business Core 34 competencies Highlights, Program Breakdown, 2015, Irvine, CA: Brandman Area of Emphasis 9–14 competencies University. Retrieved • Information systems management • 9 competencies from https://www.brand- • Management and organizational leadership • 12 competencies man.edu/cbeducation/ • Marketing • 14 competencies program-overview • Supply chain management and logistics • 9 competencies 4 Total per degree 56–61 competencies

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University The complete set of competencies for the BBA Students interact with and access the com- degree can be found in the online Brandman petencies through groupings of online learning catalogue at https://www.brandman.edu/files/ modules called bundles. The bundles include attachments/2014-2015-Catalog.pdf. 4 to 11 modules, which are sequenced so that each student will experience the educational DEGREE PROGRAM STRUCTURE journey in a similar way. Each module leads the student through learning activities designed to In order to complete a degree, students must result in the mastery of a single competency. demonstrate 13 general education competen- Competencies are paired with complementary cies, 34 business competencies—referred to as competencies and preceded by related foun- the business core—and between 9 and 14 com- dational competencies within the overall pro- petencies in an area of emphasis (Table 2). gram sequence. From the competency framework created by Students are given access to the bundles one Brandman faculty, a completely new curriculum was at a time. Then, they can work through the mod- designed that would successfully guide students ules at their own pace. A student must com- through learning activities that would develop each plete a bundle of modules before he or she is of the 80-plus identified competencies. The trajec- granted access to the next bundle so that the tory of the program is such that the competencies progression of knowledge and scaffolding of are scaffolded, meaning that higher level compe- competencies is ensured. General education, tencies cannot be accessed until a prerequisite business core, and area of emphasis modules competency is first mastered. In this way, students are distributed throughout the degree; a single build on their skills as they progress (see Figure1). bundle may contain all three.

Figure 1. Example of a term of study. Each competency is an online module. The CBE program has three domains: general education, business core, and emphasis area. Each domain has subdo- Term 2 mains into which the competencies are categorized. For example, communica- Bundle tions and humanities are subdomains of the general education domain.

Fundamentals of Human Information Interpersonal Quantitative Microeconomics Experience Literacy Communications Literacy, Level A

ASSESSMENT APPROACH journey within each competency, completed through the use of an adaptive learning engine, The scaffolding of the Brandman BBA modules which generates custom designed learning is seen not only in the bundle sequencing but activities and subject matter content based on also in the assessment process. Each module has what students know and do not know. The for- both a cumulative/summative assessment at the mative assessments for all competencies are end as well as formative assessments through- brief, objective-based assessments linked to the out. Summative assessments occur at the end adaptive learning engine. These assessments of each module, and successful completion of a not only test student progress within the mod- 5 summative assessment signals the demonstra- ule but also require students to demonstrate tion of a competency. Students also engage in confidence in their answers. Students must both formative assessments throughout their learning know the correct answers and be confident that

Figure 2. Diagram of the different levels of learning as defined by Bloom’s Taxonomy INNOVATION Plan | Change Create

EVALUATION Assess | Judge | Strategize

ANALYSIS Categorize | Deduct | Problem-solve

APPLICATION Do | Apply | Experiment

UNDERSTANDING ...is what you Interpret | Distinguish Explain Your Knowledge can recall and describe such as facts, terms, and KNOWLEDGE... basic concepts.

these answers are correct. The confidence index course outcomes through Bloom’s Taxonomy, assists students in building trust in their learning, which is a holistic system of classifying learning and it provides data for the adaptive learning objectives in which learning at higher levels is engine. If a student does not pass a formative dependent on first gaining knowledge at lower assessment, the adaptive learning engine will levels (Krathwohl, 2002), it became evident to send students back to the content that they the faculty early on that the competency assess- need to spend more time on in order to be suc- ments should be categorized into two separate cessful the second time around. The formative levels (see Figure3). assessments can be taken as many times as a Level 1 competencies involve learning that is student needs to in order to successfully prog- primarily focused on the understanding of infor- ress through the module. mation and concepts, processes which are found “Assessment, or student demonstration of in the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, partic- mastery, is at the heart of competency-based ularly Remembering and Understanding (Figure education,” says Dodge. In designing Brandman’s 1). Level 1 competencies, which make up about approach to assessment, the faculty team recog- 40% of the competencies for Brandman’s BBA nized that the format of each assessment needed degree, are best assessed through an objective- to be appropriate for the learning outcomes and based final assessment through which students competencies. This is why Brandman employed can demonstrate recollection and understand- a backward design, meaning that instead of bas- ing of course material. Of the 13 general educa- ing the assessments on the learning activities, as tion competencies, 3 are level 1; and 18 of the 34 in a traditional program, they opted to create business core competencies are level 1. the assessments based on the intended learn- Level 2 competencies pertain to the application 6 ing outcomes and then constructed the actual of learned concepts and skills as well as higher lev- learning activities as foundational elements el analysis, which requires the integration of knowl- for the assessments. After viewing Brandman’s edge. These processes are found in the higher

• 40% of competencies • 60% of competencies • Students can remember and • Students can apply and understand course content analyze course concepts • Assessment: Objective, • Assesment: auto-scored testing Performance-based • Examples: Workforce • Examples: Financial Diversity, Fundamentals of Statement Analysis, Information Technology Managerial Economics

levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as Applying and while both Brandman and Flat World conducted Analyzing. Level 2 competencies constitute about joint research with the first group of CBE stu- 60% of the total competencies for the BBA and dents. The cooperative research effort focused are assessed through performance-based projects, on how information would best be presented to such as presentations, portfolios, or reports, which CBE students, as well as how they best interact are graded using a rubric developed by the faculty with an online educational platform. and an in-house psychometrician. Of the 13 gen- The resulting product of the partnership with eral education competencies, 10 are level 2; and 16 Flat World was, according to Dodge, a “highly of the 34 business core competencies are level 2. adaptive digital space” that students can access In addition, nearly all specialization competencies from a variety of devices. Tablets like the iPad are level 2. are the most popular device, but many students also use laptops, and often both. Over 30,000 CURRICULUM PLATFORM pages of content, much of it original, are available to students through the platform. This From the early stages of the development of content is dynamic and can be edited or restruc- the competency-based BBA program, Brandman tured if data analysis demonstrates that a change administrators planned for the program to be could improve student outcomes. Students have technology-driven and, therefore, easily accessi- access to embedded text with videos integrated ble to working adult students. To accomplish this, into the narrative and can participate in discus- Brandman partnered with Flat World Education, sion boards and video-conferencing. a digital publishing company that specializes in Since it is so difficult to predict the needs or education and digital content. usage patterns of students in a brand new pro- Flat World entered the scene to help create gram, Flat World provides real-time updates and an online platform that was easy for students to reports on the operations of the platform as well navigate as well as to assist in the development of as student interactions with the embedded text. the online content. Since CBE was a new field for This way, changes can be made quickly if and Flat World, Brandman worked hand-in-hand with when problems are identified. them to create a customized and original platform that could hypothetically be used by other PRICING/TUITION AND TOTAL institutions interested in following a similar path. COST OF PROGRAM To make sure the platform would meet student 7 needs and expectations, Flat World indepen- The BBA program is offered as a subcription dently conducted research on prospective users model, with students enrolling at any time for

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University six-month terms. Students can start a term on advised that they may be better candidates for any Monday during the year. The subscription traditional or blended online programs. model allows students to work at their own pace As noted earlier, faculty played a central role to complete as many modules or bundles as they in the development of Brandman’s competency- can during the six-month period. Dodge expects based BBA program by identifying competen- that due to the self-paced nature of the program, cies, working with specialists to build assess- the time to complete a degree may vary widely ments, and deciding the content of the various but the typical enrollee will be able to complete learning activities. The transition into a compe- an undergraduate degree within 30 months, or tency-based format also necessitated a shift in about two and a half years. the traditional roles and responsibilities of facul- Tuition for the BBA is a flat, per-term fee ty to ensure that students have the support they of $2,700, which includes digital textbooks. need to be successful. With the launching of the Students completing the degree on schedule— CBE program, Brandman University now has within the expected two and a half years—would, two faculty models: one model for its traditional therefore, expect to pay a total of $13,500 for the credit-based programs and another model for bachelor’s degree. A student going at a slower the self-paced competency-based programs. In pace, and completing the degree in four years, the traditional programs, full-time faculty teach would pay $21,600. and support the credit-hour blended and online programs. In the self-paced competency-based TIME TO DEGREE TOTAL COST programs, full-time tutorial faculty are responsible for ensuring that students understand con- 2 1/2 ½ years (5 terms) $13,500 cepts and content. The university’s reassembled faculty model for the competency-based pro- 4 years (8 terms) $21,600 grams has four separate faculty roles:

1. Curriculum Developers: Curriculum STUDENT SUPPORT: ENSURING THE developers are the subject matter experts RIGHT FIT, REASSEMBLED FACULTY who design the competency-based ROLE, AND OTHER ONLINE SUPPORT courses. These faculty members are primarily full-time academics employed by The program designers recognized that the Brandman University who normally teach competency-based BBA program at Brandman and provide oversight for the credit-hour may be ideal for many students yet might pres- blended and online programs offered by ent certain challenges for other students along the university. the way. Therefore, it was important to make sure 2. Tutorial Faculty: Tutorial faculty are the students have the support they need to succeed. subject matter experts whose primary The program designers addressed this concern by responsibilities include tutoring students providing guidance to the students both before in the university’s competency-based enrollment and throughout the program. programs, maintaining currency in his/her Before a student enrolls in the competency- discipline, and actively participating in the based BBA, Brandman requires them to com- university’s continuous improvement pro- plete the Competency Intro Module (CIM), cesses. These faculty ensure that important which introduces the technology and how to concepts are understood and that student navigate it, what to expect from competency- questions are answered. based coursework, and how to fit education into 8 the students’ otherwise busy lives. Students who 3. Academic Coaches: Academic coaches are do not complete the three week CIM success- the advisors who counsel students regard- fully are not admitted into the program and are ing competency progress and program

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University requirements. They manage student activ- adequate academic support would be provided, ity reports and ensure students are regu- that there would be appropriate use of tech- larly participating in education activities. nology, and that assessments would be rigor- ous. After a satisfactory site visit, the Structural 4. Assessment Graders: Assessment grad- Change Committee (a standing committee of ers are the subject matter experts whose commissioners) recommended to the WASC primary responsibility is to accurately and commission that the program be approved. This consistently score student submissions entire process, from notification of intent to final of performance-based summative assess- approval, took around 11 months. ments. They are responsible for providing According to Laurie Dodge, the process of robust feedback on each scoring event. seeking accreditation through WASC ensured In addition to the interaction and support of that every aspect of the BBA program was well the above staff, students in the competency- thought out and intentional. In addition, the based programs also have access to online com- thorough review conducted by WASC, and their munities that can offer assistance when needed. interest in the direct assessment nature of the Brandman University has established online program, helped Brandman find the best way to writing and math communities that are open to describe the program when seeking approval all students, not just CBE BBA students. from the U.S. Department of Education. After the BBA program was approved by FINANCIAL AID AND ACCREDITATION WASC, the next step in seeking direct assessment approval from the DOE was to apply to While the BBA offers students a competen- the Secretary of Education to have that program cy-based experience that is situated outside determined to be eligible for Title IV. This pro- traditional time measured agendas like credit cess required the submission of an application hours and 15-week terms, this innovative struc- addressing how the CBE program meets a set ture means that the program does not meet of criteria outlined in a March 19, 2013, Dear many of the credit-based regulatory require- Colleague letter. Institutions applying for direct ments for federal financial aid. Brandman, how- assessment must explain its methods for “equat- ever, successfully sought approval from the U.S. ing the direct assessment program to credit Department of Education (DOE) to offer the or clock hours and related parameters of the BBA as a direct assessment program (see box). program, including minimum weeks of instruc- This status for the BBA program permits some tional time, payment period, how an academic adjustments in the regulations to allow students activity will take place during each week, and to use federal financial aid for the program. the definition of a full-time student” as well as The first step in the process leading up to DOE how students “will interact with a faculty mem- approval was to have the program approved by ber on a regular and substantive basis.” The Brandman’s regional accreditor, the Western institution must also “address issues such as Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). how it plans to measure satisfactory academic Because the BBA program differed significantly progress (SAP) for students in the direct assess- from Brandman’s credit-based and course-based ment program” (U.S. Department of Education, offerings, the approval process necessitated a 2013). Once the application was reviewed, the site visit for what is called a substantive change DOE posed a series of additional questions to review, conducted by peers. In this thorough which Brandman replied in writing. At the end of review of the program, WASC focused its atten- this process, the application was accepted by a tion on the details of the student’s educational DOE committee, and Brandman’s BBA program journey as well as credit hour equivalencies. was approved for direct assessment in October 9 In particular, WASC required assurance that 2014, five months after application submission.

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University term. A student that does not complete a bundle WHAT IS DIRECT ASSESSMENT? in a previous term must catch up and finish the The U.S. Department of Education defines remaining 33% of the bundle in the next term a direct assessment program as “an instruc- in addition to 67% of the subsequent bundle. In tional program that, in lieu of credit hours or this way, financial aid is based on learning and clock hours as a measure of student learning, successful progression rather than time spent in utilizes direct assessment of student learning, the classroom, and also keeps the student on the or recognizes the direct assessment of stu- path to a degree within four years. dent learning by others” (Direct Assessment A second regulatory requirement for finan- Programs, 2014). Programs that use assess- cial aid is that faculty must have substantive ment only, with no references back to the interaction with students at least once a week. credit hour, can be designated as direct Brandman’s program administrators addressed assessment programs by the department. this by requiring that the tutorial faculty, in con- With this special designation, direct assess- junction with the assessment graders, provide ment program students can be eligible for what the DOE calls a “regular and substantive federal financial aid. interaction with students.” This faculty initiated interaction with students is meaningful and var- MEETING THE TERMS OF DIRECT ied, conducted through required discussion ASSESSMENT boards and assessment feedback, and occurs at least once per week. Direct assessment programs are not exempt Besides those two specific regulatory chal- from federal financial aid regulations; they merely lenges, the program faced operational challeng- have additional flexibility in meeting those regula- es related to financial aid as well. In particular, tions. There are two regulations that are particu- Brandman’s student information system (SIS) larly challenging for self-paced CBE programs: 1) was not designed to work with flexible six-month those related to the student’s “satisfactory aca- terms nor different measures for satisfactory academic progress” and 2) those related to “substan- demic progress. The integration of financial aid tive” interaction with faculty. with the SIS and the business office was a time- In a traditional credit-based program, financial consuming process for Brandman, but the system aid is disbursed term by term, and uninterrupted is expected to be ready for a spring 2015 launch, disbursement of financial aid is dependent upon with all components automated. the student making satisfactory academic progress, or SAP, which means successful earning of TRANSFERABILITY OF COMPETENCIES credit hours toward the degree within a given time period, such as a term. In the case of pro- Brandman’s regional accreditor, WASC, grams like the Brandman BBA program, there requires schools to have a system in place that is no standard number of competencies that a allows the comparison of their courses to courses student is required to earn during any one six- at other institutions so students have the option month subscription period. For the purposes of to transfer. This presents a special issue for CBE federal financial aid as a direct assessment pro- programs since the unit of currency is not a course gram, however, Brandman’s program administra- but rather a competency. To address this con- tors established a way to define SAP as a certain cern, the university developed a dual transcript number of modules, or competencies, that a stu- model in which students receive a transcript that dent is expected to complete during a given sub- shows the demonstrated competencies as well as scription period. The student must complete 67% equivalent credit-hour courses. This comparison 10 of the competencies in the bundle opened at the is done with the use of a detailed crosswalk that beginning of the term in order to receive the next articulates the relationship of competencies to financial aid payment for the following six-month existing courses at Brandman. The student can

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University then use the resulting credit-hour transcript to total of 44 students began the BBA in October transfer to another college or university as well as 2014 through a special partnership with over 25 to the credit-based programs within Brandman. employers providing 100% tuition reimburse- However, since credit hours and competencies do ment. Brandman plans for the next launch of the not perfectly align, Brandman advises students program to be a larger group of students com- that there is the possibility that not all courses or ing from organizations and companies as well as competencies will successfully transfer. community college transfer students. Similarly, students may also transfer previously Prior to taking the program to scale, Brandman earned college credit into the BBA program. plans to continuously monitor and improve the Students wishing to enroll in the BBA program content and structure. With assistance from Flat with some college-level coursework already World, Brandman administrators are able to receive completed can work with an advisor to estab- real-time feedback from students as well as data lish which competencies have been met through on their progression. If students tend to bottleneck prior coursework. Students must have earned a in certain areas, the faculty will be able to make minimum grade of B– or higher to have courses changes to facilitate a smoother experience. The from a regionally accredited institution evaluated formative assessments provide data on what spe- for equivalency to a competency. This crosswalk cific areas might be left unclear to the learners, of credit-hour courses to competencies is com- while the summative assessments can show which pleted during the admission process. modules convey the content well and which could benefit from improvement. The end result of this INITIAL ENROLLMENT ongoing real-time data analysis will be a CBE pro- AND NEXT STEPS gram that conforms to the needs of its students and employs the techniques and content that are Brandman University recognized that its new- most suited to achieving positive outcomes. est program is in relatively uncharted territory It is expected that the program taken to scale and will likely go through some minor changes will potentially have an enrollment of thousands in its initial phases. For this reason, the univer- of students. sity opted for a slow and deliberate launch. A

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of 11 Lumina Foundation, its officers, or employees.

© CAEL, 2015 CBE Case Study 4: Brandman University ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors of this case study were CAEL’s Richard Olson and Rebecca Klein-Collins. The case study benefitted from several interviews and correspondence with Laurie Dodge of Brandman University and further input from Hadassah Yang of Brandman University.

REFERENCES

Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2008). Liberal Education and America’s Promise essential learning outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.aacu.org/leap/documents/EssentialOutcomes_Chart.pdf Brandman University. (2015). Competency-based education: Frequently asked questions. Retrieved from https://www.brandman.edu/cbeducation/faq Direct Assessment Programs, 34 C.F.R. § 668.10 (2011). Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR- 2011-title34-vol3/pdf/CFR-2011-title34-vol3-sec668-10.pdf Dodge, L. (2012). Brandman University adopts the degree qualifications profile. Retrieved from https://www. wascsenior.org/files/Brandman%20University%20Adopts%20the%20Degree%20Qualification%20 Profile_January%2031%202012_final.pdf Klein-Collins, Becky (2012). Competency-Based Degree Programs in the U.S. CAEL. Retrieved from http:// www.cael.org/pdfs/2012_competencybasedprograms Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212–218. Retrieved from http://rt3region7.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/file/view/8+Perspectives+on+RBT.pdf Lumina Foundation. (2014, October). The degree qualifications profile. Retrieved from http://www.lumin- afoundation.org/files/resources/dqp.pdf U.S. Department of Education. Information for Financial Aid Professionals. (2013, March 19). Applying for title IV eligibility for direct assessment (competency-based) programs. (Dear Colleague Letter GEN-13-10). Retrieved from http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN1310.html U.S. Department of Education. Information for Financial Aid Professionals. Quality Assurance Program. (2014). Satisfactory academic progress. Retrieved from http://ifap.ed.gov/qahome/qaassessments/sap.html

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