Individualized Learning

If you read my previous post about my difficulties in communicating with Western Governors University, you might well wonder why I’m still interested in finding out more about it. Three words: competency-based learning. Students earn their degrees by demonstrating skills and knowledge instead of by taking required courses. Working independently with a mentor, students develop personalized action plans and complete their programs in their own time.

Quite simply, this is the way I think all education should be designed. I’m not alone.

John Medina, brain researcher and author of Brain Rules has found that “Every student’s brain . . . is wired differently. That’s The Brain Rule. You can either accede to it or ignore it. The current system of education chooses the latter, to our detriment. It needs to be torn down and newly envisioned, in a Manhattan Project-size commitment to individualizing instruction.”

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen applied his theory of disruptive innovation to education in his recent book, Disrupting Class. He touts computer-based learning as a significant development because it is

· Convenient and mobile

· Customizable for each student’s preferred learning style

· Flexible in allowing a student to move through the material at any pace

· More affordable than traditional education.

Western Governors University is currently the only accredited university in the U.S. offering competency-based, online degrees. That’s why I want to find a way to be a part of it.

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Failure to Communicate

My initial contact with Western Governors’ University was not especially positive. As I was searching the website for information about its Instructional Design program, I was annoyed by a pop-up enrollment counselor who wanted to chat. I ignored her.

I had a few questions that were outside the usual how to enroll genre, and I found a list of academic leaders, but it contained no contact information. Back to the pop-up counselor, I asked how to contact the person whom I thought could help me. Unfortunately, she had never heard of him and had no information about him. Her explanation was that he was “too high up” for me (or presumably, anybody) to talk to. Fine. I called the general information number, entered voice mail hell and discovered that, unless I had the person’s extension number, I couldn’t reach anybody but enrollment counselors.

Finally I googled the person I wanted, found an article he had written which included an email address and wrote him. He answered my question within a few hours, but I had to work MUCH too hard to contact him.

I don’t really understand the philosophy behind making it so difficult. If anybody has an insight into this, I’d love to hear it. Still, I’m very interested in learning more about WGU. Stay tuned.