Non-Traditional Assessments for New Learning Approaches: Competency Evaluation in Project-Based Introductory Materials S
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Non-Traditional Assessments for New Learning Approaches: Competency Evaluation in Project-Based Introductory Materials Science Jonathan Stolk, Steven Krumholz, and Mark Somerville Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Olin Way, Needham, MA 02492 ABSTRACT Over the last twenty years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the engineering community have called for systemic changes in engineering education, including an emphasis on contextual understanding; increased teaming skills, including collaborative, active learning; and an improved capacity for life-long, self-directed learning. In addition, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has called for engineering graduates that demonstrate an ability to apply science and engineering, and ABET requires assessment processes designed to measure student achievement of learning outcomes. Olin College has responded to these calls for change by embracing new learning approaches and assessment techniques, and by developing project-based courses that encourage experiential understanding and aid the development of lifelong learning skills. To address the assessment needs of new pedagogical approaches, Olin recently instituted a competency based assessment system to accompany the traditional course grading system already in place. The thread of competency assessments provides grading coherency for both faculty and students, and it provides students with valuable information concerning their development of nontraditional skills that they could use to identify shortcomings and further their learning. In this paper, we describe the new pedagogical approaches in Olin's introductory materials science course, and we explain our implementation of the competency assessment system to measure student attainment of both materials science knowledge and broader skills such as teaming, communication, and experimental inquiry. INTRODUCTION The recent calls for educational reform emphasize the need for new learning approaches that are student-centered and that aid development of broader skills and attitudes to complement traditional knowledge acquisition [1,2]. Among the desired outcomes for engineering graduates are contextual understanding, interdisciplinary thinking, communication and teaming skills, competence in problem solving, an ability to apply technical content, and an improved capacity for life-long, self-directed learning. Active pedagogical approaches such as project- and problem-based learning that emphasize inquiry, problem-solving, and self-direction appear to be a key to development of the vital skills and attitudes [3]. The move to non-traditional pedagogies, however, ushers in a new set of issues in effective student assessment. Recent research has shown that student-centered learning approaches have the potential to aid students’ development of critical skills [4]. But to clearly understand how student development is affected by these approaches, and how learning connects across courses and other learning activities, assessment appr
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