Assessment in engineering education - A European perspective

Gibson, I. S. (2002) Assessment in engineering education - A European perspective. International Journal of Engineering Education, 18 (4 SPEC). pp. 465-471. ISSN 0949149X (ISSN)

Abstract

The contents of this paper concentrate mainly on a review of papers presented at an International Seminar on Assessment held at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 1999, and which was organised under the umbrella activities of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). The fact that the Seminar was held shows that there is a real and widespread concern about assessment amongst engineering educators across Europe. Several themes emerge from this review and these are complemented using more recent published material. The overall message is that the education of engineers is changing rapidly from the traditional chalk-and-talk approach to one that emphasises understanding as well as acquisition of knowledge. There is an appreciable increase in project/problem-based activities. The major forcing terms for the change in paradigm are: pedagogical demands from teacher trainers, Governmental demands for more relevance, a drop in student demand for engineering programmes, the requirements of professional accreditation bodies, and the impact of individuals and small groups scattered across Europe who are experimenting in widely differing teaching environments.

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