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Competency-based Curriculum: An Effective
Approach to Digital Curation Education
Jeonghyun Kim
Department of Library and Information Sciences, College of Information, University of North Texas.
Email: Jeonghyun.Kim@unt.edu
The University of North Texas conducted a project involving rigorous curriculum devel-
opment and instructional design to address the goal of building capacity in the Library
and Information Sciences curriculum. To prepare information professionals with the
competencies needed for digital curation and data management practice, the project
developed curriculum using a competency-based approach. The purpose of this paper
is to discuss the design and implementation of the digital curation curriculum at the
University of North Texas. The paper advances theoretical perspectives of competency-
based curriculum as steps taken toward innovative curriculum development efforts.
Additionally, it contributes to the practice of digital curation education. The set of com-
petencies defined in the paper can serve as a common language among stakeholders to
prepare future digital curation professionals. This paper concludes that a competency-
based approach is effective, sustainable, and can be customized to address the skill
gaps in the rapidly evolving information professions.
Keywords: curriculum development, competency, competency-based education, com-
petency-based curriculum, digital curation, data management
Introduction 2015 Association of College & Research
Libraries Environmental Scan as one of the
ovel trends within higher education emerging issues that will define the future
Nover the last decade have seen the of academic and research libraries (Asso-
emergence of innovative learning initia- ciation of College & Research Libraries,
tives that involve the application of new 2015).
and emerging technology tools, delivery Although the concept and boundar-
platforms, and/or new business models and ies of CBE are frequently blurred, there
pedagogy. One such initiative is compe- is a general agreement that CBE is char-
tency-based education (CBE), which has acterized by the development of clearly
become one of the biggest “buzzwords” defined competencies, a mapping of the
in academia today. This is evidenced by curriculum to achieve those competen-
recent publications on this topic, for ex- cies, and an assessment process matched
ample, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative to the competencies. (Jones, Voorhees, &
White Paper, “7 Things You Should Know Paulson, 2002). Such competencies are of-
About Competency-Based Education,” ten linked to workforce needs, as defined
(2014). Likewise, the New Media Consor- by employers and the profession—i.e.,
tium Horizon Report 2015 listed CBE as specific knowledge, skills, and abilities
an alternative to traditional place-based (KSAs) valued by working practitioners in
education and as a way to bring greater the field. A curriculum consists of a speci-
personalization to higher education cur- fied, organized body of learning activities
ricula (Johnson, Becker, Estrada, & Free- designed to equip students with the KSAs
man, 2015). CBE was also discussed in the and integrative experiences that lead to the
J. of Education for Library and Information Science, Vol. 56, No. 4—(Fall) October 2015
ISSN: 0748-5786 © 2015 Association for Library and Information Science Education
283
doi:10.12783/issn.2328-2967/56/4/2
284 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
acquisition of competencies needed for a on the demonstration of competency has
degree (Jones, 2001). been exemplified in several initiatives, in-
While this approach to preparing pro- cluding Mozilla’s Open Badges and edX’s
fessionals goes back to the 1970s, an em- Verified Certificates of Achievement. Fur-
phasis on program goals and objectives thermore, the shift from credit hours com-
was widely adopted in the early 21st cen- pleted to competency demonstrated has
tury (Frank et al., 2010). In the United been executed in a number of institutions
States, the competency-based teacher in the USA, such as Indiana University-
education movement served as the start- Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI),
ing point for the next movement. The Michigan State University, and University
approach also influenced the design and of Wisconsin. These institutions are cur-
delivery of vocational education in the rently offering competency-based profes-
United Kingdom and particularly in Aus- sional degrees and certificates in nursing,
tralia, where national reforms in the late public health, and business and technical
1980s and early 1990s required that all communications.
accredited vocational education programs The approach, which focuses on the
be competency-based (Hodges & Harris, competency necessary to be proficient for
2012). Later, the National Postsecondary employment or practice in a profession
Education Cooperative convened a group may also have application in the Library
of experts in CBE and published a report and Information Science (LIS) field. In
that explored CBE models in postsecond- the context of preparing information pro-
ary institutions. According to that report fessionals, the concept of competencies
(National Center for Education Statistics, has been discussed and utilized. Many
2002), implementing competency-based professional associations have put effort
initiatives is important for two major rea- into developing competency statements
sons: that set their expectations for the desired
One main reason is that specific articula- KSAs professionals should possess. One
tions of competencies inform and guide example from the American Library As-
the basis of subsequent assessments at the sociation (ALA) is its Core Competences
course, program, and institutional levels. of Librarianship, which includes areas
Secondly, specific competencies help such as organization of recorded knowl-
faculty and students across campus, as edge and information; reference and user
well as other stakeholders such as employ- services; technological skills and knowl-
ers and policymakers, to have a common edge; and administration and management
understanding about the specific skills and (ALA, 2009). Additionally, a competen-
knowledge those undergraduates should cy-based approach in LIS education has
master as a result of their learning experi- been discussed and examined in a range
ences (p. vii). of domains. These include identifying
competencies through the analysis of job
In recent years, the approach has at- advertisements (e.g., Fisher, 2001; Sut-
tracted renewed interest among educators ton & Davis, 2011; Winston & Dunkley,
in higher education (Fain, 2013; Parry, 2002), addressing competencies for spe-
2013). In March 2013, the U.S. Depart- cific positions or in certain areas (e.g.,
ment of Education issued guidance for Nwakanma, 2011; Hazeri, Sarrafzadeh,
higher education institutions that offer & Martin, 2007), and exploring to what
competency-based programs. The depart- extent LIS curricula are meeting profes-
ment announced that colleges could begin sionals competencies (e.g., Kules & Mc-
providing student federal aid based on stu- Daniel, 2010; Lester & Van Fleet, 2008;
dents’ mastery of “competencies;” that is, Scripps-Hoekstra, Carroll, & Fotis, 2014).
what students know and can do. This focus Although much discussion has taken place
Competency-based Curriculum: An Effective Approach to Digital Curation Education 285
on the topic of competency in workforce access, use, and reuse of digital materials
development and education, the concept of throughout their lifecycle, digital curation
competency in LIS has centered on what has emerged as a new area of interest to
is expected of a professional in the work- address such questions.
place rather than on the learning process. Institutional digital library and digitiza-
As such, one area of concern that provides tion initiatives in research libraries have
scope for additional investigation is how brought to light the exponential growth of
to systematically link competencies to stu- research data. This in turn has led to the
dent learning outcomes or assessment of development of an institutional view of
student learning. stewardship and preservation. Research-
The University of North Texas Depart- ers now generate, integrate, manage, and
ment of Library and Information Sciences share large data sets to ensure that they
recently developed and implemented a are retrievable for future research or re-
digital curation curriculum based on a use. Many U.S. government agencies in-
competency-based approach. This paper creasingly recognize that the scientific,
will address the background behind the biomedical, and engineering research
creation of the curriculum, and then dis- communities are undergoing a profound
cuss its development and implementation transformation in regard to accessing and
according to the following three phases: reuse of large-scale and diverse research
data sets. As such, these agencies have
1. Identifying competencies; written policies that encourage data shar-
2. Linking competencies to courses; and ing and mandate data management plans.
3. Assessing competencies in curriculum. In light of this movement, the importance
of curating research data has been high-
Although these phases are discussed lighted and has brought not only new op-
here as discrete steps, the three phases portunities to libraries but also some with
took place in a continuous cycle as pro- corresponding challenges. In particular,
gram segments were developed. the lack of cross-disciplinary expertise has
often been regarded as one of the impedi-
Background ments to implementing research data man-
agement and curation. Therefore, the need
With the advent of the digital era, librar- to educate a workforce with skills and
ies, archives, and museums have increased capacity in digital curation and data man-
their responsibility and work in creating, agement has been widely recognized (e.g.,
collecting, preserving, managing, and pro- National Science Board, 2011; Ogburn,
viding access to their digital information 2010; Soehner, Steeves, & Ward, 2010).
resources. Research and practice in digital In this context, the LIS field started to
preservation and archiving has shown “it discuss the need for formal training in dig-
is impossible to keep things the same for- ital curation and data management in the
ever” (Cloonan, 2001, p. 235). With this mid-2000s. The outcome of the discus-
in mind the focus of the profession has sion was several Institute of Museum and
shifted to questions concerning the value Library Services (IMLS)-funded projects
and long-term sustainability of informa- that developed new curriculum and pro-
tion. These questions have gained inter- grams for digital curation, including the
est and support in the LIS field given the University of North Carolina’s digital cu-
explosion in the amount and complexity ration curriculum project, the University
of digital data being generated. As such, of Illinois’s data curation specialization
the strategic emphasis on long-term man- program, the University of Michigan’s
agement has moved from passive preser- preservation of information specialization,
vation to active curation. To ensure the and the University of Arizona’s digital
286 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
information management certificate pro- scribes each step, shows how the steps are
gram. Each program is unique and has dif- related to the overall educational structure,
ferent foci and strategies to educate and and illustrates the iterative nature of cur-
prepare professionals who are capable of riculum development.
engaging in curation activities in digital As presented in Figure 1, we first re-
and data-driven environments. viewed the competency standards that
Another example is the University of have been developed from various orga-
North Texas’s graduate academic cer- nizations/institutions as well as existing
tificate in digital curation and data man- digital curation curriculum developed by
agement. The curricular structure of this other LIS schools. Along with our digital
program is based on a competency-based curation job analysis, we synthesized the
approach. The certificate program is a de- skills, competencies, and goals identified
liverable of a project funded by the IMLS in this review into a set of statements that
and conducted from September 2011 to would describe the competencies the stu-
1
August 2015 to address the goal of build- dents attain upon completion of the pro-
ing capacity in LIS curriculum. The target gram. Those statements were grouped
audience for this program is graduate stu- together by category then performance
dents pursuing careers in digital curation statements that elaborate what is involved
and data management, post-master’s infor- to develop the skills students need to ex-
mation professionals who need retraining hibit a particular sub-competency were
for digital curation responsibilities, and developed. The next step was to use those
discipline-specific graduate students (e.g., competencies to design our digital cura-
graduate students in engineering, science, tion curriculum. The performance state-
and the humanities) who may be respon- ments were aligned to each course’s learn-
sible for managing data for their scientific ing outcomes. For each learning outcome
and scholarly projects. instructional units and instructional meth-
ods to address the learning outcomes were
Competency-based Curriculum for created. The last step was to perform a
Digital Curation program evaluation to assess the effective-
ness of the curriculum in helping students
We designed a theoretical framework achieve the established competencies.
that guides the development and imple-
mentation of the competency-based cur- Identifying Competencies
riculum. This theoretical framework was
drawn from a number of guides and case Competencies are neither curricula nor
studies on competency-based program learning objectives. Competencies do not
planning and curriculum development address the details of how the KSAs are to
(e.g., Calhoun, Rowney, Eng, & Hoffman, be packaged, the best methods for learn-
2005; Center for Health Policy, Columbia ing, or the criteria for attainment. What
University School of Nursing & Associa- they do provide is a framework based on
tion of Teachers of Preventive Medicine, performance outcomes around which a
2004; Chyung, Stepich, & Cox, 2006; curriculum is developed and delivered
Jones, Voorhees, & Paulson, 2002; How- and against which performance can be
ard, Gladding, Kiguli, Andrews, & John, measured. Thus, competency-based cur-
2011). The framework delineates the steps riculum is organized around competencies
involved in developing and implementing required for practice. It is also grounded
a competency-based curriculum. It de- in the empirically validated principle that
students, when given appropriate instruc-
1 tion, can all master the prescribed perfor-
The project was originally planned to run from September 2011 to mance outcomes.
August 2014 but was extended another year.
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