Open social student modeling in competency-based education

Abstract

Competency-Based Education (CBE) is proposed as a model that can solve some of higher education’s current challenges including the one size fits all approach to student learning. CBE targets this issue by focusing on a student autonomy and personalized learning approaches; however, successful implementation of this requires students have a level of self-regulation skills they often do not have thereby necessitating supports such as implementing educational technologies. This study explored the impact of an Open Social Student Model (OSSM) tool on the self-regulation of students in a competency-based undergraduate technology course. In particular, the study looked at the extent to which the OSSM tool encouraged students to engage in social comparison and self-regulation as measured by course progression and student choice of content completed. Furthermore, additional factors such as gender identity, social comparison orientation and motivation orientation were included because of their influence on the social comparison process and potential moderating effects on the impact of the tool. The study utilized a quasi-experimental between-groups design to compare course progress, content selection and impact of the moderating variables across treatment groups. Results indicated no significant impact on any of the aforementioned areas. While the study may indicate some evidence for the lack of efficacy OSSM tools have in CBE environments the results conflict with a significant amount of literature and indicate that the tool may have been ignored by students or failed to provide desirable comparisons to engage with. Guidelines for improving educational technology integration and therefore utilization based on current literature are covered for future researchers, along with suggestions for modifying OSSM design to improve student comparison opportunities and utilization of the OSSM.