Abstract:

The engineers of the future will increasingly need professional skills to ensure the effective development of their work. The professional performance of current engineering students will be developed in a changing socio-economic and technological environment. To be able to work efficiently in the different jobs throughout their professional career, they need a solid academic training, both in technical skills and in interdisciplinary competences that give them versatility and adaptability. With the aim of providing students of the subject of Thermal Engeneering of the Degree of Industrial Engenieering of the University of Almería (Spain), various activities have been developed that help the acquisition of different skills. In the assessment of the subject, 2 technical competences are considered: Application of the knowledge of applied thermodynamics and heat transfer to the resolution of engineering problems and Basic knowledge and application of environmental technologies and sustainability. Eight interdisciplinary competences were also evaluated: Understanding and possessing knowledge; Application of knowledge; Ability to make judgments; Ability to communicate and social aptitude; Ability to learn; Ability in the use of ICT; Ability to solve problems; Teamwork.

The evaluation of these competences was carried out through 2 written tests, 2 individual reports, 3 reports in groups, 1 co-evaluation sheet and 1 group work on scientific articles. In each of these instruments, different competences were evaluated, resulting in a total of 70 grades for each student.

In order to study the different tools for the assessment of competences, some correlations between the different tools were analysed for the academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21, with classes 90 and 73 students respectively.

In the working groups formed by 5 students, each student rated their peers in each of the 3 reports. As a result of the average of the four group mates, a co-evaluation grade was obtained for each student. The correlations between the grades awarded by the classmates of group AC with those provided by the teacher AT evaluating the different competences of the subject throughout 48 individual grades, were analyzed. In general, good correlations were observed between both types of grades for the two courses analyzed. In the 2019-20 academic year, the grades of group mates were 14% lower than those of the teacher (AC= 0.86· AT with R2= 0.79) and in 2020-21 were higher by 4% (AC=1.04· AT with R2=0.98). On the other hand, the relationship between the ratings of the reports made individually AI and the teamwork reports AG (including an individual part) was analyzed. In the two courses analyzed, a great agreement was observed between the grades obtained in the individual and group reports, in which basically the same competences were evaluated. In the 2019-20 academic year, the grades obtained in both types of report only varied by 3% (AI= 0. 97· AG with R2= 0.96) and in 2020-21 students obtained 11% lower grades in individual works (AI=89· AG with R2=0.94).

Keywords:

Competence, engineering, teamwork, assessment, skills.