Conference paper 2015

Lecturers' experiences of assessing generic skills in an active learning environment for engineering education in Malaysia - Emergent findings

6th Research in Engineering Education Symposium: Translating Research into Practice, REES 2015
Conference
Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the engineering lecturers' experiences of generic skills assessment within an active learning context in Malaysia. Using a case-study methodology, lecturers' assessment approaches were investigated regarding three generic skills; verbal communication, problem solving and team work. Because of the importance to learning of the assessment of such skills it is this assessment that is discussed. The findings show the lecturers' initial feedback to have been generally lacking in substance, since they have limited knowledge and experience of assessing generic skills. Typical barriers identified during the study included; generic skills not being well defined, inadequate alignment across the engineering curricula and teaching approaches, assessment practices that were too flexible, particular those to do with implementation; and a failure to keep up to date with industrial requirements. The emerging findings of the interviews reinforce the arguments that there is clearly much room for improvement in the present state of generic skills assessment.

Keywords

Author Keywords

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Index Keywords

Teaching Curricula Engineering education Problem solving artificial intelligence Computer aided instruction Engineering research Engineering curriculum Industrial requirements Assessment practices Verbal communications Case study methodologies Knowledge and experience Assessment approaches Active learning environment
Author Affiliations
Aston University, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 10 References
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8 Assessing and Certifying Generic Skills What is Happening in Vocational Education and Training, (2003)
9 Research Design Qualitative Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches, (2003)
10 Insights and Interventions from the Project Transforming Learning Cultures in Education Building Effective Research, (2004)
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Document Identifiers
  • EID 2-s2.0-84962627573
  • Language English