CBE Planning (planning tab)
CBE Planning (planning tab)
The CBE (competency-based education) Planning tab is the latest feature in Empower to help teachers focus on learners' growth.
Let's go deeper on each of the above concepts.
Instructional Progression Tab
Unit Planning
The best way to start - one that is familiar to all teachers - is to set up a unit plan. Some may also call this their scope and sequence, or a year-at-a-glance, or the learning progression. Whatever you call it, the unit planning is the first and highest level of what teachers do when they plan the year.
Things to notice:
Here is a video going through setting up the units.
Unit planning is optional, as it is a very high level view of what you will be doing. The next section - benchmark setting - is crucial when in a CBE system.
Benchmark Setting
In a CBE system, the saying goes that time is not a variable. However, as we mention in our Pacing article:
Pace is a very valuable metric for two main reasons: Pressure to Achieve and Guardian Communication.
Pressure to Achieve refers to the need to motivate students to keep learning. Even if we are able to allow students more time if they need it, we still do have a limited amount of time with them and we want to avoid students developing poor work habits by taking advantage of the system. A pacing meter provides information to all stakeholders which will inform if a student needs to pick up the pace or if they can perhaps tap the brakes and give themselves more time in an area where they do need to spend some extra time.
Guardian Communication can make or break our efforts. Parents most commonly won't know what a 2.5 means, for example, but "On Pace" will be immediately understood. Because pace is front and center in Empower, it also serves as an opportunity to control the messaging that is going home. Empower can automatically calculate pace, but teachers also have the option of manually overriding each student's pace to make sure the proper message is being communicated to guardians.
With the benchmark setting portion of the Planning Tool, we can make those expectations clear and transparent for our learners.
Learner Progression Tab
Here's a video going over the learner progression tab, and how to assign activities, potentially using AI tools that are built right in!
Related Articles
Pace
Pace In a competency-based system, answering the question "How is my student doing?" can be difficult. Activity scores, overall standards scores, goals, and progress can make the answer fairly complex for many students and parents. In order to ...My Graduation (My Learning) Tab for Students
The My Graduation (aka My Learning) tab on the student home page offers students a chance to see their present and past progress through sets of courses and pathways. This tool creates complete transparency for all stakeholders regarding where the ...Getting Ready for a New School Year
This article discusses items that schools should be conscious of to ensure Empower is set up and ready for the coming school year. Last Year's Scores All scores in Empower are what we like to call "evergreen", meaning they do not get erased year to ...Instruction: Playlists, Activities, Quizzes, Grouping, Collaborating
Instruction A unit, a pathway, a module. A playlist by any other name would still be a set of organized learning experiences in Empower. Playlist can help organize your instruction for your own purposes, for delivery to students and they get pretty ...Remote Teaching: Monitor Pace