Students in competency-based education classes work on their own time and test when they’re ready. Her secret? Taking the course at El Paso Community College through a “competency-based education” program, which let her move through an online course at her own pace. She finished in four weeks, faster than the eight allowed, and said professors responded quickly online when she had questions. “This was my first time taking a CBE course,” Yalda said in a phone interview from the police headquarters on the Valle Verde campus. “After taking it, I’m definitely going to consider taking the other courses I need. At first, I was scared because I never worked on the [remote teaching platform] before. Once I took the orientation … I thought, ‘Wow, this is really easy and convenient.’”
