ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES FOR GENERIC SKILLS IN A MULTIDISCIPLINARY AND MULTI LEVEL CONTEXT

The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) (Valencia, Spain), taking into account the most important standards and guidelines as well as national and international scientific literature, has listed 13 generic skills. These skills synthesize a profile that has to be acquired by all the students at the UPV. For its assessment, the UPV has also developed a rubric for every skill depending on the level of the course. The levels are set as follows:
i) Level I: 1st and 2nd years of Degree;
ii) Level II: 3rd and 4th years of Degree;
iii) Level III: Master.

Competency-based learning supposes a completely different way of curricular organization and teaching and learning methods. The challenge we face now is how to develop assessment strategies for these 13 generic skills according to Bologna Process. These strategies should be focused on the students for a better learning.

In this research, we develop an educational innovation for validating the rubrics for 3 of the 13 generic skills specified by the UPV. The chosen skills are: “Ability to think practically and apply knowledge in practical situations”, “Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship ability” and “Teamwork and leadership ability”. The specific objectives of the research are: (i) measure the achievement of every generic skill considered, and (ii) check for significant differences in the achievement of students depending on their profile.

We are developing this project in our University in bachelor’s degree in Tourism (level I), bachelor´s degree in Business Administration and Management (level II), bachelor´s degree in Food Science and Technology (level II), master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering (level III) and master’s degree in Construction (level III). In this way, this research acquires a multidisciplinary and multi level approach.

To determine the profile of every group, the different variables considered are: Gender, Erasmus, Working and Satisfaction with the course.

Students face a real problem presented by the lecturers. Given the complexity of the task, it is carried out by working groups (3-4 students). All group members must contribute to the elaboration of the final solution.

The assessment is different for each skill. Depending on the skill, we use a written report by group, student self-evaluation and/or student co-evaluation. The deadline for reports submission is April 25th, 2017. Student self-evaluation and student co-evaluation will take place on this date or after this date using a questionnaire. This is the reason why we can’t show results yet. However, we will be able to present our results in the final paper.