2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Mastery learning – or learning for mastery – is not a new concept. In fact, the use of mastery learning in secondary education is supported by a robust literature. None the less, mastery learning has not been widely adopted in higher education. Reasons for this lack of uptake include the perception among faculty of the time and effort needed to switch from the traditional pedagogical format, such as lecture-discussion with grades assigned through summative assessments. Over a period of fifteen years, the author has demonstrated the successful use of mastery learning for a wide range of courses including required undergraduate courses offered primarily to sophomore students, elective courses that include enrollment of juniors and seniors as well as graduate students, and highly selective graduate-only courses. Leveraging a summary of the literature of the authors own work – and referencing a recent systematic review of mastery learning in engineering in higher education – this case study offers a “formula” that faculty may follow to incorporate modified mastery learning into their classroom or laboratory setting. The approach to modified mastery learning outlined in this article accomplishes two important items. First, the flexibility afforded to the instructor when adopting modified mastery learning means that cost savings may be accomplished in the use of institutional resources while accommodating a diversity of student learning preferences. Second, while traditional approaches fail to guarantee that every student master every concept, the modified mastery learning style not only maintains – but in fact ensures complete mastery – by EVERY student. These two advantages of modified mastery learning – cost savings and improved learning outcomes – are compelling, and the case is made that most learning in higher education should adopt a modified mastery approach.