This document outlines design principles and considerations for creating sustainable competency-based education (CBE) programs. It discusses the need to align program costs with revenue streams, utilize human resources flexibly, and adapt infrastructure to support CBE models. A framework is provided to calculate activity costs by type of provider. Characteristics of sustainable CBE models include seeking sustainability at the program level and keeping costs per student low through efficient use of resources.

1. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
3035 Center Green Drive, Suite 150
Boulder, Colorado 80301
Creating Sustainable
Competency-Based Education Programs
Presented to:
CBE4CC
June 5, 2015

2. Design Principles for Competency-Based Education
Programs (CBE)
• The degree reflects robust and valid competencies
• Students are able to learn at a variable pace and are
supported in their learning
• Effective learning resources are available anytime and
are reusable
• The process for mapping competencies to courses,
learning outcomes, and assessments is explicit
• Assessments are secure and reliable
2

3. Requirements for Sustainability
$
Number of Students
Development Renewal Costs
Delivery Costs
Revenues
Overhead (tax)
Sustainable

4. When Creating a Sustainable Business Model, Consider:
1. On-going source of program development/renewal funding
– Generated from Program revenues
– Not dependent on one-time funding after start-up phase
2. Ability to align expenditure patterns with revenue streams
– Ultimate test – can expenditures be managed in a way that lets them
be aligned with subscription-type revenue models and open entry/open
exit admissions
– The more compromises that have to be made to this ideal, the less
attractive to students
3. Flexibility in utilizing human resources
– The ability to allocate human resources to activities in non-traditional
ways is central to
• Flexibility
• Scaling
• And ultimately, sustainability
4

5. 4. The very different infrastructure requirements for CBE
to link to those systems that are in place to support the
institution’s traditional offerings
– Student-centered enrollment, academic progress, and
completion data – not term/time based
– Student financial aid
– Human resources and compensation
5
When Creating a Sustainable Business Model, Consider:

6. Characteristics of Sustainable Models
1. Sustainability sought at the program – not course – level
2. Operating revenues exceed operating expenses
3. They are operated in such a way that costs of serving each student
are kept low
– Fixed costs are either
• Very low, or
• Spread over many students so that the cost/student is low
– Variable costs are
• Linear rather than a step function
• Low on a per student basis
– One-time funds, if any, used for “asset” creation only, i.e., content and
assessment development
– Within 3 years, operating surpluses replace one-time funds as the
source of investment capital/development resources
6

7. Characteristics of Sustainable Models
4. Cost factors are aligned with revenue determinants
a) If tuition paid on a per-course basis, then cost drivers – especially personnel
costs – can be on course-basis
b) If tuition is paid on a time/subscription base, then cost drivers are best on
• A time basis
• A per student basis
c) Assessment costs are the unpredictable element
• Price separately, or
• Limit the number of assessments covered by tuition
• Data analysis reduces unpredictability
5. The infrastructure is in place to support CBE
a) Data systems
• Student records
• Finance
• HR
b) Student Financial Aid
6. A reminder – retention increases are revenue enhancers
7

8. A Framework for the Cost Calculation
8

9. Activities by Provider(s) of that Activity
9
Type
of
Provider
-­‐-­‐>
Full-­‐%me
Faculty
Adjunct
Faculty
Non-­‐Faculty
Staff
Students
Technology
Open
Source/
External
Contract
Type
of
Ac1vity
Design
course
specifica1ons
Create
learning
materials
Select
learning
materials
Delivery
of
course
content
Academic
assistance/
tutoring
Facilita1on
of
student
group
ac1vi1es
Design/
select
assessments
Administer
assessments
Evaluate/
grade
assessments

10. Activities by Provider(s) of that Activity
(continued)
10
Type
of
Provider
-­‐-­‐>
Full-­‐%me
Faculty
Adjunct
Faculty
Non-­‐Faculty
Staff
Students
Technology
Open
Source/
External
Contract
Type
of
Ac1vity
Monitor
student
engagement
and
progress
Interven1on/referral
for
at-­‐
risk
students
Ins1tu1onal
academic
support
resources
for
at-­‐
risk
students
(Wri1ng
Center,
Math
Lab,
etc.)
Academic
advising/
coaching
Technical
support
Program
admissions
/
selec1on
Career
counseling
Orienta1on

11. Activities by Provider(s) of that Activity
An example: Traditional Face to Face Instruction
11
Type
of
Provider
-­‐-­‐>
Full-­‐%me
Faculty
Adjunct
Faculty
Non-­‐Faculty
Staff
Students
Technology
Open
Source/
External
Contract
Type
of
Ac1vity
Design
course
specifica1ons
X
Create
learning
materials
X
Select
learning
materials
X
Delivery
of
course
content
X
Academic
assistance/
tutoring
X
X
Facilita1on
of
student
group
ac1vi1es
X
Design/
select
assessments
X
Administer
assessments
X
Evaluate/
grade
assessments
X

12. Activities by Provider(s) of that Activity
An Alternative Example
12
Type
of
Provider
-­‐-­‐>
Full-­‐%me
Faculty
Adjunct
Faculty
Non-­‐Faculty
Staff
Students
Technology
Open
Source/
External
Contract
Type
of
Ac1vity
Design
course
specifica1ons
X
Create
learning
materials
X
Select
learning
materials
X
Delivery
of
course
content
X
Academic
assistance/
tutoring
X
X
Facilita1on
of
student
group
ac1vi1es
X
Design/
select
assessments
X
Administer
assessments
X
Evaluate/
grade
assessments
X

13. For More Information Contact:
Dennis Jones
dennis@nchems.org
303-497-0301
National Center for Higher Education Management Systems