In a recent design session with a partner, we debated the merits of the grain size of reporting and learning experience design. Most secondary schools (and higher education) across the United States report out at the course level, where the grade or score received at the course level serves as a proxy for proficiency on the course outcomes. These grades are often aggregated into a GPA – and this single number can determine higher education entrance and scholarship qualification. This practice of breaking courses up, built upon the Carnegie unit structures of credit for time-bound course systems, served some but not most learners.

The emergence of competency-based education pushes against this process of breaking courses up into learning experiences, introducing questions such as:

  1. If we want to demonstrate what a student does and does not know why do we average into a letter grade?
  2. Why does a transcript often reduce a student’s high school experience into a single number, vastly reducing the inherent variability in every learner?

These are big questions but not the focus of this post.

In this post, we argue the merits of learning experience over course experience for design grain size. We believe that to begin this work, a school must be committed to standards-based or competency-based education. Without clearly articulated competencies or outcomes in a course, it is difficult to assess the learning experience level. We propose that by using learning experience as the fundamental unit of design in educational settings, we increase the flexibility of design, the likelihood of adopting a competency-based approach, and the clarity of what a student knows and is able to do for learners, teachers and caregivers.

Benefits of Breaking Courses Up Into Learning Experiences

  • Flexible. When a model is composed of learning experiences, any verifiable proof of proficiency on a standard, outcome or competency is considered valid. This might include internships, work-based learning, employment, service-learning,  exhibitions and performances outside of school, extracurriculars, etc. all of which typically get pushed to the margins as “extra”.
  • Stackable. When a school decides to design around learning experiences, these experiences can be stacked into traditional courses with proficiency on the connected competencies/standards evaluated to determine course completion. Alternatively, schools can report on both the experiences completed by students (helpful for career and higher education job applications) as well as proficiency on the outcomes across many experiences.

Read the full article about learning experiences by Victoria Andrews and Nate McClennen at Getting Smart.