You Get What You Assess: Competency-Based Education in the Digital Era

One effective way to use personalized based education is to incorporate self-assessment and peer-assessment within the teaching and learning process.

Most educators are familiar with the General Review Standard from Quality Matter, which outlines clearly how to develop a quality course. As the organization of Quality Matter states, students learn more effectively when given frequent feedback from Instructors, from assessments that have feedback built into them, and from other students. But, how can I guide students to provide quality evaluation? The TEACH model is a framework based on the CBE and SMART goal principles that outline clearly what strong feedback looks like. Feedback should be given on time (T) with explicit guidance (E) on what, where and how students can improve. The comments need to be appropriate (A) for the level of the student. And a rubric is essential to guide students toward competency (C) by providing their peers with helpful directions (H) that are motivational and critical. Not only does the TEACH model guide students to provide quality feedback, it also emphasizes the development of soft skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.