Implementing competency-based assessment in a first year engineering design course

Competency-based assessment (CBA) is increasingly of interest in higher education, particularly in the professions. This assessment approach requires that students demonstrate satisfactory performance in specified measurable outcomes for progression, rather than meeting a particular overall average in a range of assessments. The paper describes the implementation of CBA in a first year engineering design and practice course. Each competency was linked to multiple assessment points to allow multiple opportunities to meet the competency without requiring the teaching staff to regrade assignments that did not meet expectations. The structure was designed to use no new additional course personnel. Based on this work the team recommends using past grades and learning outcome data the likely consequences of applying CBA to course assessment schemes, running CBA in parallel witha traditional grading scheme, and planning for flexibility in the grading scheme. Applying CBA to authentic activities was much more complex than for individual tests.