AN ELECTRONIC PORTFOLIO INSTRUMENT IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

GROUP T – Leuven Engineering College is a former hogeschool and has become an innovative and international university college for engineering education. Since the academic year 2008-2009 GROUP T offers the possibility to spread the official one-year master program (60 ECTS credits) over two academic years. The content of the one-year master program is maintained and supplemented with the Postgraduate Program in Entrepreneurial Engingeering Experience of 60 ECTS credits. The core of this program is an extended learning experience (the Entrepreneurial Engineering Experience, EEE; 40 credits) in collaboration with different companies and research institutes. This is a challenging engineering project (design, process, product, service, research, development, …) that aims to develop student’s engineering, entrepreneurial and innovation skills.

To assess the work of the students in this Postgraduate Program, a portfolio based assessment is used. This portfolio focuses on the personal development of the students. To show progress in their competences students create - at the beginning of their master trajectory - their personal competence profile. The profile consists of a list of competences, defined in four levels of behavioral indicators and described in a, so called, dictionary of skills.
Based on this initial profile and on the scope of their EEE-project, students do a SWOT-analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to provide insight in the competences to be developed during the EEE-project. Consequently, they design their personal development plan with adequate actions and learning activities.
At the end of their master trajectory they make a new competence profile and reflect on the progress in competences they acquired. The progress in the competence profile, evidences in the portfolio together with a behavior-oriented interview are the main components of the final assessment.
The electronic portfolio is related to the electronic learning course of the program and created in TOLEDO, the Common Virtual Learning Environment of the K.U.Leuven Association.
The poster presents the structure and use of the electronic portfolio.