Gary Bertoline, dean of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, will speak about “You Are What You Know: The Move Toward Competency-Based Programs” during the fourth annual U.S. News STEM Solutions conference June 29-July 1 in San Diego.
The Purdue Polytechnic will offer Purdue University’s first competency-based degree program in Fall 2015. The Bachelor of Science in Transdisciplinary Studies in Technology is characterized by practical, small-team project experiences in active learning rooms. Students will be able to pursue their own specific interests, learning from their teammates while experiencing multiple technology disciplines. Students will also create online portfolios, sharable with potential employers, which document the competencies they’ve mastered. Professors will serve as mentors and guides.
The program is designed to provide students with the technical skills for their first job after college and the critical thinking and ethical judgment abilities they will need for new situations throughout life.
Bertoline will be joined by three other panelists involved with competency-based programs: Jay Box, president, Kentucky Community and Technical College System; Phil Schmidt, dean of the Teachers College and vice president of accreditation and compliance, Western Governors University; and Rob Duncan, manager of STEM programs and interim Teachers College manager, Western Governors University.
Purdue Polytechnic is also a sponsor of the conference.
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Purdue Polytechnic faculty and staff who will attend the conference hope to engage with other educators, students and administrators across the country via a STEM web page. It includes a schedule of our faculty presentations at the conference, and it will be updated with ideas shared by (and photos of) conference-goers who visit the Purdue Polytechnic booth.