Abstract:

In the 21st Century, it is already clear that education will continue to diversify, and many institutions of delivery of traditional degrees will find themselves pressed to maintain relevance. The distinction that we will continue to make is not via delivering content which has already become universally available. Nor is it through giving general assessments through credentials, such as degrees, which may or may not imply relevance to a particular career option. An overall passing grade indicates a composite of achievement in a broad range of areas, but not necessarily accomplishment in any specific one.

Some schools already partner with many corporations who offer precise certification options, which demonstrate static expertise in a specific technology, an immediate but limited value for a 21st century professional.

We will maintain our relevance as educational institutions through delivering to our students both current technical achievement and mature capacity for continued development, and we will be challenged to demonstrate these results through clear assessment of them. We will need to complement our traditional assessment instruments and approaches with others that demonstrate key capacities. In this paper, we explore approaches and structures to achieve this.