At the end of September, I hit the hypothetical high seas in Orlando for C-BEN’s annual conference, CBExchange. This year’s theme, From Setting Sail to Reaching Scale, seemed particularly fitting as this conference welcomes all, regardless of where they fall on the competency-based education journey.
I left CBExchange thinking about what it takes to make competency-based education more than a promising idea and how we leave the safety of the shore for new horizons. The conference made clear that CBE’s growth depends on the connections we build across higher education, associations, government, policy, employers, and the organizations that support learning. Each has a role in creating the conditions for programs to launch, earn trust, and reach more learners.
That interconnection showed up in the conference’s focus on program design, quality and trust, employer partnerships, skills infrastructure, and the policies and systems needed to scale. These are not separate conversations. The choices institutions make about curriculum and assessment are shaped by policy, funding, technology, and relationships with employers and other partners. CBE grows when those groups work toward shared goals while bringing their different perspectives to the table.
For institutions, that kind of collaboration can be the difference between a pilot and a sustainable program. It helps connect academic design with the systems that support students and faculty, and it makes room to learn from one another as programs evolve. C-BEN help make those connections possible by giving people across the field a place to exchange ideas and move from conversation to action.
I also came away thinking about the role of technology providers in this work. Technology matters, but supporting CBE is about more than features and functions. Institutions are making complex decisions about learning design, assessment, faculty engagement, data, and student support. A provider can contribute by listening closely, sharing what it is learning across the field, and helping institutions think through how technology can support their goals. That is where partnership matters.
That is the kind of relationship I believe we should strive for: a true thought partnership, grounded in the institution’s context and the needs of its learners. The platform is part of the work, and so are the conversations that help institutions make thoughtful choices, connect ideas across teams, and keep improving over time.
But, for me, the most impactful part of CBExchange was the student panel.
Hearing students describe how CBE made higher education possible brought the purpose of this work into sharp focus. Their experiences were a powerful reminder that flexibility, recognition of prior learning, and opportunities to demonstrate what one knows can open doors for people whose lives do not fit a traditional academic model.
Those stories should stay at the center of how we talk about CBE. It is easy to focus on structures, policies, technology, and scale. Those things matter because they shape what learners can do. But the clearest measure of progress is whether students can access an education, make meaningful progress, and reach goals that once felt out of reach.
At D2L, we are grateful for our partnership with C-BEN and for the opportunity to connect with many of you at CBExchange. Most of all, we are grateful for the learners who shared their experiences. Their voices are a reminder to keep asking a simple question as we design, support, and grow CBE: Are we charting a course that makes higher education more possible for learners?
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