Small set of core competencies

In this chapter:

Intent
Problem
Solution
Applicability
How to Implement
See Also
Source
Community Discussion

Intent

Focus students’ efforts on achieving a small set of core competencies to simplify assessment and allow time for revision and retakes.

Problem

Learning outcomes are a mechanism by which instructors communicate the core concepts and skills in a course. It is tempting for instructors to over-specify learning outcomes, making them very specific and fine-grained. The problem is that these outcomes can quickly become unwieldy. Students may become overwhelmed with the minutiae of demonstrating proficiency on a large set of outcomes. Instructors may find it difficult to allocate enough time for assessments (and revisions or reassessments) of those outcomes.

Solution

Limit the set of learning outcomes to a small and clearly defined set of core competencies. These core competencies form the key learning outcomes for the course, and are the competencies that students should be able to demonstrate upon completion of the course. The examples in the source include 6-8 core competencies per course, although course type and institution type may play a role in the “ideal” number of outcomes.

Applicability

This can work for any course that has a finite set of definable and demonstrable learning outcomes, for example courses that are well-suited towards exams and quizzes as assessment mechanisms. This does not mean that homework or other alternative assessment types would not work, but exams / quizzes are a natural fit.

This play might work less well for project-based courses or courses where students create portfolios of their work and/or continually build upon and refine their work.

How to Implement

Instructors might find it easier to start with a longer list of learning outcomes when starting out with this play. For instance, an instructor might list every concept and skill covered in the course, or every concept and skill assessed on an exam. The instructor can then look for similarities and/or redundancies in the outcomes, and group similar outcomes together, as a way to collapse this list to a smaller set of outcomes.

Source

Source: Fine, Benjamin T. 2024. Competency and Equity Driven Grading System for Computer Science Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 2024 Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1 (ITiCSE 2024), July 8–10, 2024, Milan, Italy. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649217.3653564

Described by: Amy Csizmar Dalal (adalal@carleton.edu)

Community Discussion

Community members are free to comment on, ask questions about, share experiences, or otherwise contribute to knowledge about this play by posting comments below. See Chapter 33. Join Our Discussions for details.

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