Moving Past Time as the Criteria: The Application of Capabilities-Based Educational Equivalency Units in Education
With the introduction and proliferation of instructional technologies and distance education, equivalency based on time in the classroom is of minimal relevance to students and instructors who supplement educational opportunities through technology (e.g., asynchronous online discussions, computer-based instruction). Unfortunately, proposed alternative models of equivalency that merely build complex relationships between new delivery systems and the conventional standard (e.g., two hours of interactive chat equals one hour in the classroom) will only continue to strengthen the misperception that time-in-the-classroom or time-on-the-Internet is the goal of instruction (Watkins & Schlosser, 2000a).
