Leveraging competency framework to improve teaching and learning: A methodological approach

A number of engineering education programs have defined learning outcomes and course-level competencies, and conducted assessments at the program level to determine areas for continuous improvement. However, many of these programs have not implemented a comprehensive competency framework to support the actual delivery and assessment of an individual course. This paper highlights how a competency framework can be used across the life cycle of a course to effectively deliver and assess course content, and give valuable, timely feedback to students thus, improving teaching, student motivation and learning. A framework for leveraging course competencies during course design and delivery is presented, and addresses the following five phases of a course, namely, content design, assessment design, content delivery and assessment, assessment results analysis and feedback, and content review. Using a large first-year core course of the BSc (Information Systems Management) program, at School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University, Singapore—called Information Systems Software Foundation (ISSF)—as an example, this paper shows how course competencies support the framework’s five phases. Data from a student survey indicates that the framework has contributed to enhancing their motivation to learn, provides enhanced learning experiences in terms of helping students prepare for each assessment, providing better feedback by raising awareness of what they know and do not know, and revisiting topics that relate to competencies that have not been fully acquired. Results from interviewing instructors revealed that the competency framework provides valuable and timely feedback on how students are performing, and additionally what changes are required to both the content and method of delivery in order to improve teaching. This contributes towards more effectively closing the “teaching and learning loop”.