The competency gap approach to course-level continuous improvement

Abstract

The SME Study on Competency Gaps in Manufacturing Education has catalyzed the genesis and propagation of many outstanding programs to reform and revamp manufacturing education. However, the report's impact extends beyond manufacturing education - the techniques of competency gap identification, feedback and improvement can be replicated in other technical curricula. Unfortunately, curricular-level improvements are difficult without buy-in from the administration or the entire faculty. It is far easier for an individual instructor to influence pedagogical outcomes in their own classroom than at the departmental level. The authors believe that a 'miniaturized' version of the competency gap identification technique can provide a valuable pedagogical tool to the instructor. The paper discusses a test case that has been implemented in a junior-level mechanical engineering class on manufacturing processes. By tracking typical student errors on routine assessment instruments such as homework, quizzes and tests, five major categories of competency gaps were identified - comprehension, information, writing, units usage and quantitative analysis. This information has been continuously fed back to the students and used by them to continuously improve their performance. The paper will report on outcomes of this test case and discuss its scalability to other courses.