Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to describe the PAC project and the evaluation strategy of the project outcomes. PAC is a project for development of adaptive to business and employment needs curriculum on master degree level, applying performance support systems concept and principles for education in performance-centered content management learning system. In this paper we describe our work to develop complete programs on master degree level answering to: more higher education graduates are needed today, and the demands on university graduates are changed - there is a need of new skills requirements of many jobs not only in terms of formal qualifications but also in terms of detailed skills and competences. Identification of new demands for qualifications and qualifications profile development will input the business and employment into curriculum development and course design, to answer to the need of practically oriented/occupationally specific and designed for participants to acquire the practical skills, and know-how needed for employment in a particular occupation programmes - the successful completion of which usually provides the participants with a labour-market relevant qualification.

Outputs:
- Identified skills needs and new requirements for competences in fibre-optic technology, control systems, electronic and software engineering.
- Jobs skills set-up.
- Developed qualification profiles – knowledge, skills and competences in learning outcomes, curriculum framework.
- Developed Performance-centered Adaptive Curriculum (PAC) for qualification Report from the test of PAC.
- Evaluation of the skills, knowledge and competences – answer the question: ‘Right skills for the right job?’

Impact:
While continuing to work on raising and developing national standards, address specific local industry and business needs, as part of a wider effort to build new qualifications to match emerging competence needs in the sector, we support progress towards the Europe-wide certification of qualifications.

This paper briefly outlines the overall evaluation methodology, research designs and methods for data collection and analysis, to inform the discussion and decisions making on the future evaluation activities within the PAC project. The document is closely related to the document describing measurement instruments.

In the paper we present the questionnaire which we have prepared for getting straightforward information about attitudes of students towards the PAC approach. This questionnaire might require some re-design as some of the items need reformulation and new scales need to be added (e.g. effort expectancy, motivation, likelihood of adoption, and facilitating conditions).

Keywords:

Performance-Centered; Training, Adaptive Curriculum; Employment Needs; Engineering Education