Redefining Competency Based Education: Competence for Life

Redefining Competency-Based Education provides an expanded definition of career competence, based on actual employer hiring and promotion requirements, which enhances university curricula to better prepare students for work and life.

Readers will learn how private sector competency models have evolved to define criteria for hiring, promoting, and training talent. The authors contrast these models with classic university practices to document a historic academic preference for technical preparation over the so-called soft skills valued by employers. This book outlines techniques for measuring and developing soft skills that provide significant advantage in career success, and shares examples of universities that have successfully implemented these concepts.

Nina Jones Morel is professor of education and Lipscomb University dean in Nashville, Tennessee, where she leads a competency-based online program and an International Coach Federation-accredited coaching program. She is a coach and author of two books: How to Develop an Instructional Coaching Program for Maximum Capacity (Corwin 2012) and Learning from Coaching: How do I work with an instructional coach to grow as a teacher? (ASCD 2014). Nina received her BA from Lipscomb University and her M.Ed. and Ed.D from Tennessee State University. She also received the Milken National Educator Award for teaching excellence in 2005.

Bruce Griffiths is the founder of Organization Systems International (OSI) based in San Diego, California. His company specializes in leadership selection and development and has been recognized for professional contributions, including two best practice citations from ATD for developing unique business simulations designed to teach strategic leadership competencies. Bruce, a thought-leader in competency modeling and development, speaks and publishes widely. He is the author of Competencies at Work, which is recognized as an essential read in talent management. Bruce graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a BS and from San Diego State University with an MS in industrial & organizational psychology. He currently teaches leadership in UC San Diego's College of Extended Studies.