Working adults are the focus of the Flexible Option degrees,
a new competency-based online degree program which the University of Wisconsin
System will begin in the fall through UW-Milwaukee and the two-year UW
Colleges. The program will begin with degrees in health care, information
technologies, and business and management, targeting the estimated 700,000 to
one million Wisconsin residents who have earned some college credit but have
not completed a degree.
“It gives nontraditional learners another way to finish
their degrees,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in an article in eCampus News. “With the strongly underlined
emphasis on competency, it’s not about becoming a degree factory. I think
there’s a way to maintain that high standard and still be adaptable and
flexible.”
The UW system currently offers 4,600 online courses and
120 online degrees, but this is the first time it has offered degree programs
that allow students to work at their own pace while paying a flat fee for as
many courses as they can finish.
Students only have to take courses needed to attain the
degree they are working toward. Students can move through the coursework
quicker if they can pass the competency exams for the class.
UW faculty will oversee the academic quality of the
coursework and will design and assess the specific competencies students must
master to move on to the next course. Working adults will be able to start the
Flexible Option at any time during the calendar year and advisors will be made
available at the estimated ratio of one to every 85 students.
“It’s visionary and evolutionary,” said Molly Corbett
Broad, president of the American Council on Education. “This is acknowledging
the growing diversity of who college students are and finding an effective way
to give them the first-rate opportunities traditional students on campuses have
had for decades.”
