skill

1. an ability or proficiency acquired through training and practice. Motor skills are characterized by the ability to perform a complex movement or serial behavior quickly, smoothly, and precisely. Skills in other learned tasks include basic skills, communication skills, and social skills..

American Psychological Association

Skills are a natural companion to knowledge in the classroom. Where knowledge reflects what a learner knows, skills reflect what a learner can do with that knowledge. Bloom’s Taxonomy acknowledges this connection, framing the application of knowledge as a higher-order cognitive task that requires learners to move beyond recall and demonstrate their understanding in practice (Harvard, n.d.).

When we think about skills in a competency-based education model, the definition expands and sharpens. Marzano and Kendall (2007) describe two domains of knowledge that fall under the umbrella of skills. The first is mental procedures. Mental procedures are cognitive skills and processes a learner executes in the mind, such as applying a mathematical algorithm, using a writing strategy, or analyzing an argument. The second is psychomotor procedures. Psychomotor procedures are skills that require physical execution, such as performing a lab technique, operating equipment, or demonstrating a physical skill in a vocational or athletic context. Competency-based education is particularly well-suited to assess both, because it asks not just whether a learner can perform a skill, but how well they can perform it in an authentic context.

Student Outcomes Focusing on Skills

Each course in our program has a range of outcomes that assess knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. The following two statements are examples of skills-focused outcomes:

The learner will apply a correct view of the role of works in the Christian life.

The learner will demonstrate instructional designs for engaging students in culturally responsive, student-centered, inquiry-based learning to promote meaningful content knowledge, critical, and historical thinking

Note that each of these outcomes focuses not on what the professor does, but on what the learner can do. It is important that our outcomes are centered on the learner, because the program is designed to evaluate and record learners’ achievements, not the faculty who teach the courses.

Assessment Strategies

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to assessment. However, for our purposes, it is important that knowledge and skill work together. Our instructional designer and subject-matter expert work together to craft skills-based assessments that confirm a correct understanding of the content before we ask learners to demonstrate their skill in applying that knowledge.

For example, the outcome that asks learners to adopt a correct view of the role of works in the Christian life is not evidenced by the skill in isolation. The assignment for this outcome focuses on the books of James and Galatians. Specifically, the assignment asks learners to first read those books of Scripture with the guidance that a misunderstanding of works played a prominent role in why those two inspired letters were written in the first place. Learners are asked to craft a written response that addresses four prompts:

• Explain the historical context of each letter: what misunderstanding of works did each group have?
• How did each inspired writer address the misunderstanding of the first recipients?
• How is it true that James and Paul do not contradict one another but instead complement each other in the area of works?
• Then, make applications to Christians and their lives today regarding when someone would benefit from reading James and when someone would benefit from reading Galatians.

Learners must first consider the context and content of these two books, as well as how these books work together to explain the role of works, before suggesting applications to our modern world. The assignment then begins with knowledge and moves to skills.