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JRCERT Update

Leggett

students. Affected communities are typically employ- for several courses and do not require students to
ers, educators, graduates, and students. purchase new textbooks each term.
The second attribute of competency-based educa-  There is an obvious “map” of competencies in
tion toward student success is that it helps quality and relation to student learning outcomes and the
affordability to coexist in higher education. Quality is curriculum – alignment of the curriculum, com-
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enhanced because application—not basic comprehen- petencies, and student learning outcomes will
sion—is the emphasis. Students cannot merely memo- provide transparency and clarity to the students,
rize a few facts and then disregard them; instead, they faculty, and accreditors. In addition, when revi-
need to develop a deeper understanding of the concepts sions are indicated for the curriculum, it is easier
and be able to retain and apply the learned material in for faculty to determine where to adjust the stu-
laboratory and clinical venues. Affordability in educa- dent learning outcome and respective assessment
tion is enhanced when students’ retention of the material or competency. This is a part of the rationale for
is increased and the time for completion of the educa- the JRCERT requirement that a program’s cur-
tional program is reduced. riculum grid and assessment plan be correlated.
Specific guidelines based on best practices deter-  Assessments are valid and reliable – assessments
mine success for a competency-based educational pro- can take many forms, from objective tests to
gram, and these can be readily applied to the education research papers to probably the most commonly
of students in the radiologic sciences. A brief overview used tool for clinical education, simulations or
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of these guidelines follows : competency examinations performed on actual
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 The program has valid competencies – the ARRT patients. Regardless of the tool used to assess stu-
completes a practice analysis every 3 years to dent learning, it is imperative that the assessment
determine what clinical requirements are neces- method measure the intended result each time it
sary in the current workplace. The minimum is employed.
ARRT clinical competencies are based on this Competency-based education has proven to be an
nationwide data analysis and provide validity that effective instructional methodology for radiologic sci-
the required clinical competencies are reflective ence programs. It assures the didactic arena of higher
of current clinical practice. education is intimately aligned with the clinical envi-
 Students are able to progress at their own pace ronment, thus producing graduates who are adequately
and are supported in their learning – most educa- prepared for the workforce and the important task of
tional programs are not prescriptive in mandat- maintaining patient safety.
ing exactly when a student completes each of the
clinical competencies, but they might require the
student to complete a certain number of com- Tricia Leggett, DHEd, R.T.(R)(QM), is director of
petencies at various checkpoints to demonstrate institutional effectiveness and planning at Zane State College
that the student is progressing at a reasonable in Zanesville, Ohio, and a member of the JRCERT Board of
pace. In addition, programs implement a student Directors. She is vice chairman of the American Society of
orientation to the competency-based system and Radiologic Technologists Radiography Chapter. She also is a
have embedded tools such as scheduled advising member of the ASRT Foundation Research Grants Advisory
sessions. Panel and the Radiologic Technology Editorial Review
 Effective learning resources are available anytime Board.
and are reusable – the Internet, e-books, and
learning management systems provide students References
immediate access to learning resources and may 1. Competency. Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary Web
be used for multiple courses. In the radiologic site. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged
sciences, many programs use the same textbook /competency. Accessed December 26, 2014.

RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY, March/April 2015, Volume 86, Number 4 447
Reprinted with permission from the American Society of Radiologic Technologists for educational purposes. ©2019. All rights reserved.