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Online Learning News and Research
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Monday, March 24, 2003
Exclusive Interview With Robert Mendenhall, President, Western Governors University - Distance-Educator.com
Mr. Robert Mendendhall, President of Western Governors University was interviewed by Dr. Farhad Saba, Editor-In-Chief of Distance-Educator.com. Distance-Educator.com: ...From its inception, the university has established and followed a different educational model based on learners’ competencies. Could you elaborate on this model, and highlight its major differences with conventional models? Mr. Robert Mendenhall: Competency-based education basically means that we award degrees based on students demonstrating competence – what they know and can do – rather than by accumulating a certain number of credit hours. For each of our degrees we carefully define the competencies expected of a graduate, using the input of both academic and industry experts, and then, working with our Assessment Council of national experts, we define the assessments to measure these competencies. These assessments combine objective tests, performance tasks, portfolios and projects. We ensure that each student actually has the defined competencies in order to graduate. We are unique also in that we don’t develop and teach our own courses. Instead, we identify the best available online courses, and other learning resources, and “map” them to our competencies.
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