The Harvard Business Review argues that online competency-based education is going to revolutionize the workforce by creating “high-quality learning pathways that are affordable, scalable, and tailored to a wide variety of industries.” Competency-based education identifies explicit learning outcomes when it comes to knowledge and the application of that knowledge, and includes measurable learning objectives that empower students. According to the article, online competency-based education allows for modularization of learning. “By breaking free of the constraints of the ‘course’ as the educational unit, online competency-based providers can easily and cost-effectively stack together modules for various and emergent disciplines.”
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/10/the-real-revolution-in-online-education-isnt-moocs/