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Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Pág<strong>in</strong>a 290 de 957<br />

Assessment of transferable competences <strong>in</strong> comput<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Jorge E. Pérez Martínez<br />

jeperez@eui.upm.es<br />

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Gregoria Blanco-Viejo<br />

gblanco@eui.upm.es<br />

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Edmundo Tovar Caro<br />

etovar@fi.upm.es<br />

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of <strong>Research</strong> <strong>in</strong> Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Education</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October <strong>2011</strong><br />

Agueda Arquero Hidaldo<br />

aarquero@fi.upm.es<br />

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Carmen Vizcarro Guarch<br />

carmen.vizcarro@uam.es<br />

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Taísa Borges Grün<br />

taisabg@hotmail.com<br />

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid<br />

Spa<strong>in</strong><br />

Abstract: The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is the<br />

credit system for higher education used <strong>in</strong> the European Higher <strong>Education</strong> Area<br />

(EHEA), which <strong>in</strong>volves all the countries engaged <strong>in</strong> the Bologna Process. This<br />

paper describes a study which is part of the project of the Bologna Experts<br />

Team-Spa<strong>in</strong> and was carried out with the follow<strong>in</strong>g aims: 1) design<strong>in</strong>g some<br />

procedures for the assessment of transferable competences; and 2) test<strong>in</strong>g some<br />

basic psychometric features that an assessment device with some consequences<br />

for the subjects be<strong>in</strong>g evaluated needs to prove. We will focus on the degrees of<br />

Comput<strong>in</strong>g. The sample of students (20) <strong>in</strong>cludes first year students from the<br />

Technical University of Madrid. In this paper, we will report some results of data<br />

analyses carried out to this moment on reliability and validity of the task<br />

designed to measure problem solv<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

Introduction<br />

The assessment of competences or learn<strong>in</strong>g outcomes is a key concept <strong>in</strong> the European<br />

Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) s<strong>in</strong>ce credits are awarded when the<br />

assessment shows the competences which were aimed to be acquired (European<br />

Communities, 2009). ECTS is the credit allocation system for higher education used <strong>in</strong> the<br />

European Higher <strong>Education</strong> Area (EHEA), which <strong>in</strong>volves all the countries engaged <strong>in</strong> the<br />

Bologna Process, 47 at this po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong> time. Most Bologna countries have adopted ECTS by<br />

law for their higher education systems (European Communities, 2009). In Spa<strong>in</strong>, a decree<br />

passed <strong>in</strong> 2007 (M<strong>in</strong>isterio de Educación y Ciencia, 2007) establishes the transferable<br />

competences which any student with a university degree must have developed; these<br />

<strong>in</strong>clude understand<strong>in</strong>g basic and gradually more advanced texts, problem solv<strong>in</strong>g, look<strong>in</strong>g<br />

for, select<strong>in</strong>g and us<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>formation to solve problems or mak<strong>in</strong>g decisions and the<br />

capacity to learn <strong>in</strong>dependently.

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