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Making the Important Graphic and the Learning Animated: (MIGLA)

Change in STEM Higher Education has been vociferously demanded in the past four decades by educators, students, parents, employers, and professional societies. These calls have been consistently backed with significant investments of attention and resources and have resulted in many change initiatives. Yet, tangible and lasting impact has proved to be elusive and the STEM higher education institution has proved to be immune to most incremental changes. Disruptive paradigm shifts cannot happen in a piecemeal fashion, one course at a time, or one faculty at a time. The hypothesis of this project is that Competency Based Education (CBE) is an effective vehicle for a comprehensive transformation of existing or new degree programs affecting course content, faculty, and students. CBE supports making curricula more relevant to students’ needs and aspirations; CBE is consistent with pedagogies reflective of scientific understanding of human learning; CBE alters the roles that faculty and students play in the students’ learning; and a CBE-based learning experience is inclusive, leading to student demographics representative of the nation’s diversity. 

The objective of this project is to explore the potential of CBE to affect comprehensive change in two bachelor degrees in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. A multi-disciplinary team of faculty, including the department head, will explore the effectiveness of CBE as a vehicle for transformative, multi-faceted change that can be easily embraced by faculty. The project will explore the following set of research questions:

Can CBE be an effective vehicle for redefining graduation requirements to balance between technical fluency and 21st century skills?

Can CBE certification of competencies be a sufficient stimulus for the adoption of problem-based and contextualized learning?

To what extent does CBE affect students’ self-determination, and empower them to direct the content and pace of their learning?

Can the exercise of CBE-based frequent, formative feedback affect change in faculty’s perceptions and attitudes and lead to a more inclusive and equitable environment?

How easily and rapidly can a traditional faculty adopt CBE?