Setting Up Competency Based Education
Important
Information and features vary according to the roles to which you belong and the permissions associated with those roles. For more information, contact your module manager or your campus support team.
Use this topic to guide you through the setup tasks:
Turn CBE on and configure the settings
Define CBE elements (units and competencies)
Assign roles and permissions
Designate courses and sections as CBE
Assign competencies to courses and sections
CBE License Required
Competency Based Education requires the Competency Based Education license.
IT or module managers use the Registration Settings to turn CBE on and set the basic configurations.
On Registration Roles pages, they set permissions for registrars and module managers, and on definitions pages they define CBE components. Then module managers or registrars assign competencies to catalog courses, course sections, and/or student-sections. See "Setting Up Competency Based Education" for details.
Competency Based Education (CBE) Settings page
Turn CBE on and configure it
Registration Roles pages for Registration Module Manager and Registrars roles
Assign users to the roles
Give or remove permissions in the Competency Based Education section
Create Course page, Manage Catag Course page, and Manage Catalog Course Details page
Designate a catalog course as a CBE course
View, add, edit, and remove CBE elements in courses
Create Section page, Manage Sections page, and Manage Section Details page
Designate a section as a CBE section
View, add, edit, and remove CBE elements in sections
Permissions are required for setting up CBE and assigning competencies to courses and sections. The permissions are in the Registrars role and the Registration Module Manager role. Permissions include these:
Can manage CBE category definitions
Can manage CBE competency definitions
Can manage CBE learning outcome definitions
Can manage CBE type definitions
Can view CBEs
Can edit CBEs
Can add CBEs
Can remove CBEs
Use this checklist to remind you of the steps needed to get CBE working. Details and instructions follow for each of these steps.
Assign roles and permissions
Define CBE elements
Designate courses and sections as CBE
Assign Competencies to courses and sections
Work with CBE in courses, sections, and student records
Allow students to search for courses by competency
Configuring CBE
Configure CBE on the Competency Based Education Settings page.
The general settings are where you turn CBE on, create a display name, determine what to include in registration checking, and decide where CBE category levels can be edited.
This is where you turn CBE on to allow your school to use its features.
This is where you can change the Display Name from the default "CBE". This is what CBE will be called in many labels and page titles. (In the documentation, we'll still call it CBE.)
During the registration process, the system can include in-progress CBE courses when it's checking for prerequisites, corequisites, and prohibited courses. It can include corequisites from the previous term in the search, too. Select the checkboxes if you want to include search attributes. This setting applies to CBE courses only. It does not affect settings for traditional courses.
Decide whether users can change the maximum level available from within a catalog course, a section, or a student's course history. (You create the categories and levels on the CBE Category Definitions page.)
You can make competencies optional or, instead, required by default for course completion. (Then, as you assign competencies to courses and sections, you can accept or override the default.) By default, all CBEs added to a catalog course or section are marked as Not Required. They can be changed to Required after they're added.
You can decide whether CBE elements (competencies) have grades, credits, and hours. You also decide whether grades, credits, and hours roll up from the CBE elements to the student's course grade. (For grades, you're setting the defaults for newly created courses and sections, but users can change the settings for individual courses, sections, and student course history records.)
Should competencies have their own grades, credits, and hours? That depends on how your school wants to use competencies. You can use competencies as mere badges, or you can fully integrate them with grades, credits, and hours.
You can set up CBE so that competencies are merely like badges—acknowledgements of skills achieved. In that case, the competencies themselves don't have credits or hours.
In this setup, competencies might or might not have grades, but the grades aren't connected in any way to the section grade, to GPA, or to any other calculation in a student's record.
To use CBE this way, don't opt in to grading, credits, and hours on CBE.
If you want competencies fully integrated, with each CBE competency getting a grade, hours, and/or credits, then select those options on the Competency Based Education (CBE) Settings page.
Note
If grades, hours, and/or credits are selected here, they'll automatically appear with competencies in grade reports.
However, to show a competency's grades, credits, and/or hours in transcripts, select Show supplemental CBE page at the end.
If you opt in to grades, you then select whether the grades "roll up"; that is, whether they're used to calculate the section grade. Likewise with credits and hours.
Roll Up
The student's grade, credits, and/or hours for the section (as seen in the student's course history) result from the student's grade, credits, and/or hours in each of the required CBE elements.
If you decide to use the roll up grading method, then you must also use credits to ensure the system can calculate the grades correctly.
Roll Down
The instructor grades the course, and each required CBE element is automatically assigned that same grade.
Individual CBE elements won't have hours and/or credits assigned to them. They're assigned only to the student course record for the section.
Selection | Result or Example |
|---|---|
Allow Grading on CBE | CBE elements (competencies) can be graded. Now select whether grades roll up or down. (If this checkbox is cleared, then by default, competencies can't be graded.) |
Grades roll up | If the student earns an A on Competency 1, a B on Competency 2, and a C on Competency 3 (and those competencies are required), then the student's section grade is a B, the average of the 3 competencies. |
Grades roll down | If the student earns a C+ in the course, they automatically earn a C+ on each of the required competencies, too. |
Use credits on CBE elements | Competencies can get credits. Now select whether credits roll up or, instead, are defined on the section. (If this checkbox is cleared, then by default, competencies don't get credits.) |
Credits roll up | If the student earns 1 credit on Competency 1, and 1 credit on Competency 2, and 1 credit on Competency 3 (and those competencies are required), then the student's section earns 3 credits. |
Credits are defined on the section | The CBE credits are not related to the course credits. |
Use hours on CBE elements | Competencies can get hours. Now select whether hours roll up or, instead, are defined on the section. (If this checkbox is cleared, then by default, competencies don't get credits.) |
Hours roll up | If the student earns 1 hour on Competency A, and 1 hour on Competency B, and 1 hour on Competency C (and those competencies are required), then the student's section earns 3 hours. |
Hours are defined on the section | The CBE hours are not related to the course hours. |
You can have competencies show on transcripts in either or both of these ways or not at all:
With their assigned course section
In a list at the end of the transcript (with the competency's grades, credits, and/or hours, if any)
On the Registration Administration hub, click the Hub options.
Select Settings and then Competency Based Education (CBE) settings. The Competency Based Education Settings page opens.
Click the anchor link for General CBE Settings.
Click the Edit this Section button.
Select the Enable CBE checkbox.
In the Display Name field, edit the display name if you want it changed from the default "CBE". This will be what Competency Based Education is called in many labels and page titles. (In documentation, we'll still call it CBE.)
Select checkboxes for either, both, or neither of these:
Include in-progress CBE courses in prerequisite / corequisite / prohibited checking
Include previous term in corequisite checking
Under Allow the Category Level to Be Edited in These Places, select checkboxes to determine where users can edit the maximum category level available.
Catalog courses
Course sections
Student course history records (that is, an individual student's course)
Under Default Settings for Each Element, select a radio button to determine whether by default any competencies assigned are Required or Optional to complete the course they're assigned to.
To abandon your changes without saving, click the Cancel button. Otherwise, click the Save this section button.
On the Registration Administration hub, click the Hub options.
Select Settings and then Competency Based Education (CBE) settings. The Competency Based Education Settings page opens.
In the CBE Default Settings for Grades, Credits, Hours, and Transcripts section, click the Edit this section button.
Under Grading Method, select checkboxes for any, all, or none of these checkboxes that you want applied to required CBE elements for courses.
Under Grading Method, for any checkbox you selected, select a radio button to have the grades (or credits or hours) roll up from the CBE elements to the course or the other roll down from the course to the CBE element. (Credits and hours don't roll down to a section; they're defined on the section definition.)
If you want CBE elements to show on transcripts, select either or both of these checkboxes:
Show elements associated with a course below each course printed on the transcript
(Competencies appear with their course section. A competency's grades, credits, and hours don't appear.)
Show elements on a supplemental page at the end of the transcript
(Competencies appear in a list at the end. A competency's grades, credits, and/or hours show.)
To abandon your changes without saving, click the Cancel button. Otherwise, click the Save this section button.
Assigning Roles and Permissions for CBE
Use the Registration Roles page to assign users to the Registration Module Manager or Registrars role. Each of those roles has view, edit, add, and remove permissions in the Competency Based Education section. The roles have those permissions by default, but you can remove permissions.
You may wish to assign some permissions to one role and some to another. These instructions assume you're assigning them all to a single role, but you can assign them as you wish.
In J1 Web, on the Registration Administration hub, click Hub options.
Click Admin options, and select Manage registration roles. The Registration Roles page opens.
On the Registrars role or Registration Module Manager role (or, more likely, the copy of one of those roles that your school uses), click Options, and select Edit. The Edit page opens to the Permissions tab.
In the Manage Definitions section, make sure the four CBE definition permissions are selected.
Can manage CBE category definitions
Can manage CBE competency definitions
Can manage CBE learning outcome definitions
Can manage CBE type definitions
If they're not selected, click Edit, select the four CBE definition permissions, and click Save.
In the Competency Based Education section, make sure the permissions you want available are selected. If they're not selected, click Edit, select the permissions, and click Save.
To assign users to the role:
On the Users tab, click the Add to role button.
On the Add to Role pop-up, start typing the name of the person you want to add.
Select the person from the resulting list.
Click the Add to role button. The pop-up closes.
Defining CBE Elements
The CBE elements that your school actually assigns to courses and sections are units and competencies. (Your school may give them different names.) Competencies are the smallest type CBE element you can assign to courses and sections.
If you wish, you can group competencies into units. Units are the broader type of CBE element. Units can include competencies.
For each competency or unit, you can assign the Maximum Category Level, the highest level you allow for that element. You can also assign a Learning Outcome.
Here's where the elements are defined:
CBE Type Definitions page
The available types are predefined:
Unit
Competency
A unit can be the parent of one or more competencies. For example, Unit 1 could have Competency A and Competency B as children. Unit 2 could have Competencies C, D, and E.
In the future, there may be more types.
CBE Category Definitions page
You define the categories.
Categories can be different types of skill sets, such as knowledge and technical skill.
You can create levels of proficiency for each category.
CBE Learning Outcomes Definition page
You define outcomes.
You can associate each outcome with a program, department, and college.
There is also a user-defined table.
CBE Competency Definition window
This is where you combine all the elements to finish defining the competencies you want to measure.
Add competencies: the most specific skills you want to measure.
Assign their type (Unit or Competency); units can contain competencies in a parent-child relationship.
Set their maximum category-level default.
Assign their maximum duration.
Give them a description for transcripts.
Select an Advising Requirement Codes (ARC) for each CBE.
Optional: Select Learning Outcomes for each CBE.
See the definition topics for instructions to define the CBE elements in this sequence:
Designating Courses and Sections as CBE
Use J1 Web to designate catalog courses and sections as CBE.
Use these pages:
Create Course pop-up
Manage Course Details page, Course Demographics tab
Create section pop-up
Manage Section Details page, Section Demographics tab
Note
After you've designated a catalog course or a section as CBE, you can edit the course or section only in J1 Web. (The course or section is viewable in Desktop but not editable there.)
When creating a new catalog course:
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Create course.
Fill in the information as you would for any course.
Click the CBE Catalog Course toggle to set it to Yes.
When working with an existing catalog course:
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage catalog courses.
Navigate or use the filters to find the course you want to change.
On the course's row, click the Select action button, and select View course details.
Click the Course Demographics tab.
Click the Edit details button.
Click the CBE Catalog Course toggle to set it to Yes.
Click Done editing.
When creating a new section:
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Create section.
Fill in the information as you would for any section.
When working with an existing section:
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage sections.
Navigate or use the filters to find the section you want to change.
On the section's row, click the Select action button, and select View section details.
On the Section Demographics tab, click the Edit details button.
Click the CBE Section toggle to set it to Yes.
Click Done editing.
Assigning Competencies to Courses and Sections
You can assign CBE elements to a course (and, thus, the sections subsequently created from it) or to individual sections. After a course or section is designated as a CBE course, you can assign CBE elements to it.
The assigning process is similar whether you're working with a course or a section. In the Registration Administration hub, use several tabs on either the Manage Course Details page or the Manage Section Details page.
The assigning process is similar whether you're working with a course or a section. In the Registration Administration hub, use the Manage Course Details page or Manage Section Details page.
Roll Up: The instructor grades the required competencies. The section grade is then automatically calculated as an average of the grades on the required competencies.
Roll Down: The instructor grades the section. Each required competency then automatically receives the same grade as the section.
None: The instructor grades the section. The instructor might or might not also grade any or all competencies, but the grades on competencies have no relationship to the section grade, to GPA, or to any other calculation for the student's record.
Sections inherit Grading Method settings from their catalog course, but you can change the method on the Manage Sections page, Grading Controls view. Just as on the Manage Sections page, the options are Roll Up, Roll Down, and None.
Use the Competencies tab to view, edit, or remove competencies from a section.
Select an element under the section name. In the information grid, you can edit fields as needed. You can use the Remove button to remove the element or the Add button to assign a new element.
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage catalog courses.
Navigate or use the filters to find the course you want to change. (In the CBE view, select the CBE Catalog Course filter, and select Yes to limit the listings to only CBE-designated courses.)
On the course's row, click the Select action button, and select View Course Details. The Manage Course Details page appears. (You can also access the Manage Course Details page from a course's summary page.)
On the Competencies tab, select the course's checkbox in the left panel.
Click the Add button. The Add Competency pop-up opens.
In the Add to drop-down, select the course. (Or, if there are already units assigned, you can select a unit to add a competency to.)
In the Search Competencies by drop-down, you can search by catalog, section, or competency type.
Select catalog if you know a catalog course that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a catalog course. (Begin typing a course code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that course that you want to copy.
Select section if you know a section that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a section. (Begin typing a section code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that section that you want to copy.
Select competency type to select CBE elements individually.
Select the type: Unit, Competency, or All.
Select a competency. (Begin by typing a competency name to see choices.)
Click the Add button.
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage sections.
Navigate or use the filters to find the section you want to change. (In the CBE view, select the CBE Section filter, and select Yes to limit the listings to CBE-designated sections.)
On the course's row, click the Actions button, and select Manage section details. The Manage Section Details page appears with the Competencies tab open. (You can also access the Manage Section Details page from a section's summary page in the Section options drop-down.)
Click the Add button. The Add Competency pop-up opens.
In the Add to drop-down, select the course. (Or, if there are already units assigned, you can select a unit to add a competency to.)
In the Search Competencies by drop-down, you can search by catalog, section, or competency type.
Select catalog if you know a catalog course that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a catalog course. (Begin typing a course code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that course that you want to copy.
Select section if you know a section that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a term and a section. (Begin typing a section code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that section that you want to copy.
Select competency type to select CBE elements individually.
Select the type: Unit, Competency, or All.
Select a competency. (Begin by typing a competency name to see choices.)
Click the Add button.
Yes. The section is designated as a CBE section, and it inherits any CBE elements the catalog course has at the moment of the section's creation. However, later changes to CBE elements in the catalog course won't affect the section. And if you make changes to the section, they don't affect the catalog course.
Access the CBE Competency Definitions page. There you'll see all the competencies listed. Back on the Manage Course Details or Manage Section Details page, you can begin typing one of the competencies you saw listed.
Working with CBE Courses, Sections, and Student Records
When a course or section is designated as CBE, you can view and edit the CBE elements.
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage catalog courses.
In the view drop-down, select CBE (or whatever your school calls the CBE feature).
In the Catalog Filter, select the CBE Catalog Course checkbox, select Yes from the drop-down, and click Apply. Now only CBE courses appear.
Click the Plus icon
to expand a record and see all its fields.Click the Manage CBE details button to see and edit the full details.
If you make changes, click the Save icon.
Click the X to go back to the Manage Catalog Courses page.
From the Registration Administration hub, in the Hub options drop-down, select Manage sections.
In the view drop-down, select CBE (or whatever your school calls the CBE feature).
In the Section Filter, select the CBE Section checkbox, select Yes from the drop-down, and click Apply. Now only CBE courses appear.
Click the Plus icon
to expand a record and see all its fields.Click the Manage CBE details button to see and edit the full details for a course.
If you make changes, click the Save icon.
Click the X to go back to the Manage Sections page.
To view:
From a student's Section List:
Click the Action button for the section you want to work on.
Select Manage student section details. The Manage Student Section Record window opens.
From a section's summary page:
Click the Section options button.
Select Manage student section details.
Click the Manage student section records button for a student. The Manage Student Section Record window opens.
Click the Competencies tab. It appears only if the section is designated as Competency Based Education (CBE) for the student.
To edit:
Select checkboxes for the elements you want to change.
Enter information in the fields in the table.
Click the Save button.
To add:
Click the Add button. The Add Competency window pops up.
In the Add to drop-down, select the course. (Or, if there are already units assigned, you can select a unit to add a competency to.)
In the Search Competencies by drop-down, you can search by catalog, section, or competency type.
Select catalog if you know a catalog course that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a catalog course. (Begin typing a course code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that course that you want to copy.
Select section if you know a section that already has the same CBE elements you want to copy to this course.
Select a section. (Begin typing a section code to see choices.)
Select the competencies from that section that you want to copy.
Select competency type to select CBE elements individually.
Select the type: Unit, Competency, or All.
Select a competency. (Begin by typing a competency name to see choices.)
Click the Add button.
To remove:
Select the checkboxes for the elements you want to remove.
Click the Remove button.
Yes. The parents and children will be removed from the course or section you're editing. They'll also be removed from the student's course history unless the record has the 'History' status.
Yes, if the record is not in 'History' status. In fact, when you remove a CBE element from a course or section, it automatically gets removed from student course history records that are not in 'History' status.
Allowing Students to Search for Course Sections by Competency
On the Registration Settings page, you can make Competency one of the fields students can use to search for courses in the Campus Portal. Students use the Student Registration feature to search.
From the Registration Administration Hub options drop-down, select Manage registration settings. The Registration Settings page appears.
Scroll down to the Campus Portal Course Search section.
Click the Competency toggle to switch it to the ON position.