May 14, 2025 | Volume 1 | Issue 4

CBExchange 2025: Wrangling Skills in this Wild, Wild West Environment

UNO is heading to CBExchange 2025, the premier national conference on Competency-Based Education. The event will take place:

🗓️ November 10–13, 2025
📍 Phoenix, Arizona

⏰ Early bird registration deadline: August 15, 2025 

 

We’re excited to share that Dr. Erin Bass and Stephanie Larsen, M.A. will be presenting on behalf of the UNO+CBE Champion Project!

 

🎤 UNO+CBE Sessions at CBExchange:

• Wrangling AI for CBE: How Custom GPTs Are Helping Us Blaze New Trails in Curriculum Design 

• Communication as a Catalyst: Using Communication to Win Faculty Buy-In and Keep the Wagon Moving 

• Mission Meets Market: Defining and Positioning CBE Through Institutional Strategy

Whether you’re attending or just curious, we’ll be gathering takeaways to share broadly with our campus partners. 🔗 Learn more: CBENetwork.org/events

⚠️ Quick Update: SharePoint Migration

As part of UNO’s Future Ready Cloud Collaboration Workspace transition, our Champion SharePoint site will be migrating on May 22. If you experience any issues accessing project materials, please contact Stephanie Larsen to have your access restored. This may be a recurring issue across campus through the full migration process—thanks for your patience!

The Steering Committee continues to shape the strategic direction of CBE at UNO, ensuring alignment with institutional goals and national best practices. Below are the latest decisions and updates from the most recent meeting.

Facilitator: Jaci Lindburg

Next Meeting: June 5

 

Update: The Steering Committee met on May 7 to review strategic updates, affirm key operational decisions, and provide feedback on program proposals.

 

Key Discussion Points:

• FSA Calendar Recommendation: The committee reviewed and discussed the Operations Workgroup’s proposal to adopt the Standard Term FSA academic calendar as the working model for UNO’s CBE programs. This model supports operational feasibility while still allowing for flexibility through modular design and rolling starts. While not without its limitations, the group agreed it provides a strong foundation for early-stage CBE implementation at UNO, but made it clear we should continue exploring options for greater calendar flexibility within the standard term framework and wherever possible.

• Inaugural Program Proposals: Two proposals were reviewed and affirmed:

  • Instructional Technology Leadership Pathway (College of Education)

  • Executive Business Certificate (College of Business Administration)

  • These programs were seen as low-risk pilots that can test CBE models while building toward more scalable offerings and stackable credentials.

• Strategic Framing: The committee affirmed continued alignment with the UNO+CBE Strategy Statement and Core Values, with a call for the Marketing & Communications Workgroup to begin branding and naming focus groups. 

✅ Working Decisions

• UNO will adopt the Standard Term FSA academic calendar 

• UNO will pursue course and credit-based CBE (not direct assessment)

• Programs will follow a hybrid delivery model (online-first, with in-person elements as needed)

• CSW Hub will serve as the administrative home for CBE programs

• Academic homes will remain in their respective colleges

Below you will find key updates from each workgroup. These updates summarize the most important discussions and progress across committees, ensuring all CBE Champions are aligned with developments from other groups. Q2 is the decide and design phase of our project. 

Academic | Facilitator: Erin Bass

Next Meeting: May 15
Update: The Academic Workgroup has been hard at work navigating critical decisions that will shape the learner experience in UNO’s future CBE programs. Their primary focus this quarter is defining the learning model framework, including policies around pacing, feedback, assessment, and instructional design.

 

🧩 Q2 Highlights: 

• Learners may work on multiple competencies at a time to allow continuous progress while awaiting feedback.

• Flexible content access was endorsed—allows learners to progress through  content in a personalized manner but must complete all formative and summative assessments.

• Soft deadlines (milestones without penalties) were preferred to promote pacing without penalizing non-traditional learners.

• The group supports a scaled mastery rubric (e.g., approaching, mastered, mastered with distinction), allowing for more nuance than a binary model.

🎯 Q3 Priorities:

• Course blueprinting, peer engagement, and metacognitive integration.

• Defining acceptable evidence of mastery, draft policies, and summative assessment structures.

• Establishing expectations around support across time zones, research opportunities, and use of open educational resources (OER).

These decisions will feed directly into governance applications, course design templates, and faculty development. The workgroup will pause meetings over summer and reconvene in August.

Next Meeting: May 23
Update: The Operations Workgroup continues to lead on critical infrastructure and policy design needed to launch and scale UNO’s CBE programs. Following Steering Committee approval, the group is moving forward with the Standard Term FSA calendar and is now focused on building in as much flexibility as possible within that structure.

 

🧩 Q2 Highlights: 

• Exploring 6-, 7-, and 8-week module options that align with system-wide calendars and faculty union contract agreements.

• Reviewing the pros and cons of per credit, banded, and subscription-based tuition—Subscription is the most flexible, but presents challenges for slower-paced learners.

• Finance & HR Workgroup will recommend the rate, while Operations will recommend the model.

• Considerations are being made around fees, financial aid eligibility, refund triggers, and system compatibility.

• Creating an IT systems map to define data flows and integration points.

• Coordinating vendor demos for LMS, SIS, and CRM systems (e.g., Canvas, PeopleSoft, Salesforce.

This team is laying the groundwork for flexible design inside stable systems—and setting the stage for scalable, student-centered CBE implementation at UNO.

Next Meeting: May 15
Update: The team is tackling the foundational question: What should the financial model look like for CBE at UNO? Their work in Q2 focuses on building a sustainable, scalable approach that balances innovation with institutional alignment. A business plan is underway that will guide decisions on resource allocation, breakeven targets, and use of state aid. 

 

🧩 Q2 Highlights: 

• Establishing a budget philosophy—defining whether programs will be state/grant funded, program-revenue funded, cost-recovery based, or follow a centralized vs. decentralized model
• Beginning to draft projected expenditures to inform the broader program budget model

Next Meeting: May 23
Update: The Student Affairs team continues its focus on designing learner-centered services that reflect the needs and experiences of CBE students.

 

🧩 Q2 Highlights:

• Finalized and shared a set of program-agnostic adult learner personas, which are already informing efforts across the project—from marketing strategy to support model design.

• Launched a survey to inventory current student services and identify areas for improvement specific to CBE learners.

• Began mapping the learner journey from initial interest through enrollment and beyond through facilitated breakout work to visualize support needs across the student lifecycle.

This group is making foundational contributions to how UNO will meet students where they are—designing supports that are proactive, inclusive, and aligned to CBE principles.

Next Meeting: May 23
Update: The Marketing & Communications team is shifting from foundational research into the development of a brand identity for UNO+CBE. With naming survey results in hand and the strategy statement affirmed by Steering, the group is now turning outward—engaging learners and aligning messaging to personas.

 

🎯 Q2 Priorities:

• Drafting a brand strategy to define voice, values, and identity for the CBE portfolio.

• Preparing for student focus groups to test brand and naming options, especially among adult learners and workforce partners.

• Reviewing learner personas to ensure brand alignment with real student needs and expectations.

• Conducting a competitive review of national CBE programs—focusing on pricing, program formats, and messaging strategies.

With a clear strategy emerging, this group is building the groundwork for how UNO will tell the CBE story—one that resonates with learners and sets UNO apart in the market.