Transitioning To PBE

The Difference Faculty Make With PBE

One of the major concerns often heard about when discussing switching to PBE is the de-emphasization of the faculty role in the classroom. Instructors fear that they are going to no longer be actively teaching in the classroom, especially once a transition is made to a hybrid curriculum with online course content. Rest assured, this is NOT the case. If anything, faculty will be doing more teaching than prior to switching to PBE.

Faculty remain at the heart of a PBE course. Departmental faculty will identify and develop the competencies for their curriculum, as well as the curriculum itself, including developing the assessments and defining what the term “mastery” means within their department and industry. They are involved with understanding and improving the entire learner lifecycle by designing, guiding and supporting the learning journey, including processes that facilitate and encourage meaningful interaction with individual learners. 

Faculty and staff comprehensively understand the strengths and needs of their target learner population, and put those needs at the core of all decisions, processes and systems. If anything, the faculty member’s role is amplified as they will be repeatedly engaging with the students in the classrooms and labs to ensure they are achieving a mastery level of the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified within the program competencies.