91福利社 Early Childhood Education program was awarded a $25,000 Illinois Community College Board Competency-based Education Grant. 91福利社 ECE Program Coordinator Carolyn Beal and 91福利社 Dean of Arts & Sciences Mary Ruettgers, Ed.D., co-created the grant application.
According to the ICCB: This grant is designed to create and support Early Childhood Education competency-based education programs and projects in the community college system. Competency-based education focuses on determining a student鈥檚 achievement by evaluating proficiency within a set of learning outcomes and objectives moving away from traditional time-based constraints.
鈥淭his grant is a great opportunity for the 91福利社 Early Childhood Education Department and the 91福利社 community,鈥� Ruettgers said. 鈥淧rofessor Beal has done a phenomenal job leading the 91福利社 ECE program as well as serving on many state-wide initiatives to further support Early Childhood Education. Initiatives such as these will help local ECE providers hire qualified candidates.鈥�
Beginning with the Early Childhood Credential, between 2016-2017, all Illinois Gateways Credentials moved from standards and benchmarks to competencies. As a result, many colleges have worked to incorporate competency-based activities within their program framework and outcomes, including those related to technology. Many programs are also working to identify ways in which to observe and assess students in simulated or virtual reality scenarios. Through this grant project, grantees will have access to Mursion Technology, a virtual reality simulation platform, as well as technical assistance from ICCB and its partners.
91福利社 is an Entitled Institution for ECE Credential Level 2-4, Infant/Toddler Credential Level 2-4 and Illinois Director鈥檚 Credential Level 1.
This competency-based education grant will support the ECE program with the needed resources, technology and personnel to create modules, align modules with competencies, create assessments and rubrics, and access to virtual technology, Beal said.
The funding from this grant will support the creation of self-paced modules for students to meet the six-semester-credit requirement in Early Childhood Education to obtain the ECE level 2 credential or be lead-teacher qualified.
For more information about the Early Childhood Education program, visit the swic.edu/ece or contact Beal at carolyn.beal@swic.edu.