Assessing the 'hidden' learning outcomes (generic competencies) in Engineering Education

Abstract

Knowledge economy highlighted the need to incorporate both academic knowledge and generic competencies in education and society. With academic knowledge, the intended learning outcomes are written out at large and are easily recognizable, but with generic competencies, the problem of 'which outcomes to measure and how to measure them?' (Male and Chapman, 2005) arise. For example, in a capstone project, apart from the theory to applied knowledge, what are the generic competencies develop and do we actually assess them separately? Most countries have adopted an outcomes-based system across all levels of their education system, in a system where only one set of outcomes (the academic knowledge outcomes) is known, and the outcomes from the generic competencies set are not clear, it becomes very difficult to assess given that 'constructive alignment' and 'clear criteria and grade descriptors' are expected. This challenge in assessment can be a major barrier in education especially in engineering where students and teachers are both more receptive to traditional academic learning and assessment approaches.