You are on page 1of 12

1

Curriculum assessment for professional


accreditation: A modelling framework*

J Armarego
Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia

GG Roy†
Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia

ABSTRACT: The assessment of curricula for accreditation purposes is central to much of the
effort required for the design and implementation of teaching programs in schools of engineering.
The CDIO (conceive, design, implement and operate) syllabus provides an example framework that
describes these required outcomes. This syllabus has been specifically developed for undergraduate
engineering education, offering a range of modelling concepts that can be used for formal curricula
assessment. This paper provides an overview of how the CDIO (or similar) competency frameworks
can be modelled for a formal analysis to provide an open, objective and repeatable process that may
be used as a part of a claim for accreditation. The work presented builds on that developed for the
CDIO competency framework and includes case studies applying the Engineers Australia Stage
1 Competency Framework. The authors demonstrate the use of a support tool (CCmapper) that
facilitates this process and provides ways of representing and validating claims for accreditation.

KEYWORDS: Competency; assessment; accreditation; curriculum; CDIO.

REFERENCE: Armarego, J. & Roy, G. G. 2013, “Curriculum assessment for professional


accreditation: A modelling framework”, Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, Vol.
19, No. 1, pp. 1-12, http://dx.doi.org/10.7158/D12-013.2013.19.1.

1 INTRODUCTION Accreditation of a university degree usually requires


an analysis of the program of study against a set
Accreditation of professional engineering courses of learning outcomes, or competencies. It will also
is well established, both internationally through require an assessment of capability, resources and
the Washington Accord (International Engineering processes to support an educational program at an
Alliance, 2011), and in many countries, such as appropriate standard. The competency frameworks
through the Accreditation Board for Engineering define the standards set by the accrediting authority,
and Technology (ABET, 2011) in the USA. In Europe, and generally include both generic and discipline
accreditation processes are still developing and will specific knowledge and skills. These are usually
probably come through the EUR-ACE standards applied to complete programs of study, though
(European Federation of National Engineering sometimes to individuals seeking accreditation
Associations, 2008). In Australia, Engineers Australia outside the usual pathways. In this paper we are
provides accreditation standards for professional concerned only with the curricula aspects of a
engineers, engineering technologists and engineering program of study being accredited.
associates (Engineers Australia, 2011). The elements of a study program (units, courses,
subjects, etc.) must be carefully reviewed and their
* Reviewed and revised version of paper originally presented at
the 8th International CDIO Conference, Queensland University
learning outcomes mapped to the appropriate
of Technology, Brisbane, 1-4 July 2012. accreditation requirements. In broad terms the
† Corresponding author Prof Geoffrey Roy can be contacted at outcomes from an engineering program of study
g.roy@ecu.edu.au. will need to cover a wide range of foundation

© Institution of Engineers Australia, 2013 Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, Vol 19 No 1


2 “Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy

sciences, engineering technologies, design and Table 1: The CDIO (v2.0) Building Blocks
problem solving as well as personal and professional (Level 1).
capabilities. The primary tasks in an accreditation
process are to demonstrate that a particular program Section Building Blocks
of study satisfies the requirements of the accrediting 1 Disciplinary knowledge and reasoning
authority, as summarised formally in the appropriate
Personal and professional skills and
reference framework. 2
attributes
The CDIO (conceive, design, implement and Interpersonal skills: teamwork and
operate) syllabus (Crawley, 2001; Crawley et al, 2011) 3
communication
represents one of the more well developed competency
CDIO systems in the enterprise, societal
frameworks for engineering, and is widely adopted 4
and environmental context
in professional engineering programs (Worldwide
CDIO Initiative, n.d.), though not predominately
in Australia. However, the syllabus authors stated Each of these top levels includes a number of Level
that a program whose design is based on the CDIO 2 statements that are in turn defined in terms of a
syllabus will also satisfy its national requirements for number of more detailed statements at Level 3; and
specified program outcomes (Crawley et al, 2011), then finally, each of these are described by a set of
when assessed through a rigorous outcomes-based learning objectives (Level 4). As a result we have a
process. Therefore this syllabus can provide a solid large competency framework with over 400 learning
foundation for defining the scope and depth of the categories/objectives. It is important to note that this
required competency elements for the graduate decomposition is explicit in order to transition from
professional engineer and may form the basis for high level goals (Level 1) to teachable and assessable
demonstrating that a program is meeting required skills (Level 4) (Crawley et al, 2011).
standards for engineering programs.
This hierarchical structure is quite common. Similar
In an Australian context the application of CDIO structures appear in a number of competency
concepts in the review of an engineering degree frameworks, for example Engineers Australia Stage
program at The University of Sydney has been 1 Competencies (Engineers Australia, 2011), EUR-
reported (Levy, 2011). This application showed that ACE (European Federation of National Engineering
the broad CDIO concepts do provide a sound basis Associations, 2008) and the Skills Framework for the
for the assessment of a program with Engineers Information Age (SFIA Foundation, 2010).
Australia. Campbell et al (2009) also reported an
In this paper we focus our attention on the first
application of the CDIO framework together with
version of the CDIO syllabus (Crawley, 2001)
a number of mappings between CDIO and other
which has been more formally analysed to establish
competency frameworks (eg. ABET, Engineers
required levels of proficiency, rather than the second
Australia and IEA). version (Crawley et al, 2011). In principle the same
However, in making claims for accreditation, there analysis could be applied to this later version, but
needs to be a detailed assessment of the program, and not without some additional effort to measure the
arguments presented to demonstrate that it satisfies required levels of achievement for the additional or
the requirements of the accrediting authority. This modified competency elements.
analysis needs to be an objective, open and repeatable At the most detailed level, the CDIO syllabus items
process if its credibility is to be assured. It also needs are stated as learning objectives (competencies), and
to be operationally viable. are expressed in the form: Action Verb + Cognitive
In this paper we will use the CCmapper tool for the Object (or Process).
assessment and analysis of the CDIO competency Some examples from version 1.0 are:
framework and show how it can be used as a part
• 2.1.1.a Evaluate data and symptoms.
of an accreditation exercise. The background to this
tool is outlined elsewhere (Roy & Armarego, 2011). • 2.2.1.a Select critical questions to be examined.
• 3.1.1.e Analyse the strengths and weakness of the
team.
2 COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS
• 4.1.1.b Accepts the responsibilities of engineers
Competency frameworks for graduate professional to society.
engineers are necessarily complex and involve a wide The action verbs (underlined) describe a level of skill
range of skills and capabilities. Typically they are or knowledge. This is the cognitive scale that is applied
hierarchical, and contain several levels of statements to the object or process. Cognitive scales are derived
organised into related groups of knowledge and skill. from learning theory and are generally based on
The CDIO syllabus is quite typical in this respect. The Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Outcomes (Bloom, 1956),
four top level parts of the CDIO Syllabus version 2.0 either as originally defined, or later modified, the latter
are shown in table 1. mostly concerned with redefining or reordering the

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


“Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy 3

top two levels: synthesis and evaluation (Anderson describe the 5- or 6-step scale. The general idea is that
& Krathwohl, 2001). This type of specification is the level of capability for a competency is mapped to
commonly used in competency frameworks. the 5-point CDIO scale in the required domain, using
appropriate sets of action verbs for that domain.
The CDIO framework proposes a set of modified
Bloom levels of outcome as shown in table 2. The In engineering education the cognitive domain tends
five levels roughly align with the original Bloom to dominate our thinking, but the others can be
scale (with the Bloom Levels 5 and 6 amalgamated), relevant (and important) in providing the full range
but the chosen action verbs are moderated to include of engineering skills. The CDIO framework does
those particularly relevant in an engineering context. identify a small number of competency items that
Based on Bloom’s taxonomy, there are three domains should be assessed in the Affective and Psychomotor
of learning that are widely recognised: domains. It is also suggested in the CDIO syllabus
(Crawley, 2001) that the cognitive process elements
1. Cognitive domain is concerned with knowledge, may be separated out into their own domain
comprehension and critical thinking (Cognitive process) to assist with the identification
2. Affective domain is concerned with how people of action verbs and associated levels. The choice of
react emotionally in situations domains, or variations, should be done with care to
3. Psychomotor domain is concerned with the ability ensure that they align with well-established teaching
to manipulate objects. and learning theories.
For the Affective and Psychomotor domains there A part of the CDIO framework (version 1.0) is
are other sets of action verbs that may more closely illustrated in figure 1, showing details of the Level

Table 2: The CDIO outcome levels in the cognitive domain.

Level Descriptor Action verbs


1 To have experienced or been exposed to Recall
2 To be able to participate in and contribute to Describe, define, list, recognise, state
Discuss, explain, interpret, translate, locate,
3 To be able to understand and explain
classify, identify
Apply, choose, select, demonstrate, execute,
To be skilled in the practice or practice, employ, use, utilise, prepare, schedule,
4
implementation of analyse, examine, appraise, test, compare,
discriminate, reconcile, elicit, question, experiment
Formulate, construct, synthesise, plan, create,
5 To be able to lead or innovate in
evaluate

Figure 1: A part of the CDIO framework.

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


4 “Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy

4 items for section 2.1.1. In this figure the action involve the use of domain experts (practitioners and
verbs in the leaf nodes are highlighted. In both academics) and will need to be undertaken in a way
versions of the CDIO framework sections 2, 3 that the results are credible and generally accepted
and 4 of the competencies are quite generic and as representing the accreditation requirements. The
could well apply to most engineering disciplines. second author has been involved in a similar exercise
Section 1 is specifically set aside to accommodate using the competency framework from Engineers
the foundational sciences (1.1), the engineering Australia (Rassau & Roy, 2011). The effort required
fundamentals (1.2) and the advanced engineering to achieve this is not insignificant as it requires a
knowledge for the discipline specialisation (1.3). considerable commitment of time. In that case the
The leaves of this tree structure define the measurable results are quite similar (in terms of their general
items in the competency framework. The initial task characteristics) to the published CDIO results. These
is to estimate the required proficiency levels for include considerable variations of assessment across
each competency item (at Level 3) by reviewing the assessors and acknowledgement that moderation
Level 4 items (perhaps taking them as indicators or and averaging processes are generally required
exemplars of achievement); measuring them on the to achieve useful results. Clearly, the data from
5-point scale; then aggregating the results to achieve such surveys of domain experts must be carefully
an estimate of the proficiency at Level 3. We refer to managed to assure that the results are meaningful
these assessments as the targets. These are the levels and useful, and are sufficiently credible to be widely
of proficiency that are set for the program of study accepted as a benchmark for measuring individual
and hence form the benchmarks for achievement programs. Ideally these target assessments should be
(and perhaps accreditation). set or confirmed by the accrediting authority.
For any competency framework to be useful in this From an extensive survey of both practitioner and
quantitative way it is necessary to establish the target academic experts the data for these targets has been
profiles for the specific programs to be assessed, measured for the MIT Department of Aeronautics
perhaps along the lines described for the CDIO and Astronautics engineering degree program
framework (Crawley, 2001). This will most certainly (Crawley, 2001). These results are shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: The CDIO target values at Level 3.

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


“Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy 5

We can clearly see the profile and the varying levels of demanding approach as it requires the domain
proficiency (on the 5-point CDIO scale) that resulted experts to have detailed knowledge across the
from this survey. Note that we have modified the whole program.
items in section 1 for a specific case study in civil • For each source (unit, course, etc.) within the
engineering and it is the authors’ target assessments program, the unit coordinator (ie. person with
that are included for that section in this chart. primary responsibility for the delivery of the unit)
It is interesting to note some general characteristics is requested to provide the assessments against
of this profile: each relevant competency item for the unit. In this
case the unit coordinator is most probably able to
• Level 5 is represented at the outer edge of the
achieve the task, but there is a lot more detailed
chart, and Level 1 the edge of the innermost circle.
analysis required. This is the preferred approach
• There are no competency items assessed at Level as it provides a much richer set of data to work
5 (ie. it is perhaps rare to expect a professional with, and provides opportunities for auditing the
engineering graduate to have mastered parts of claims for accreditation (see below).
the competency framework).
From the authors’ experience the second option is
• Most items are assessed at Levels 2, 3 or 4.
probably the most reliable, though more time and
• There are no items assessed at Level 1 (ie. we effort is required. It does, however, also raise some
expect engineering graduates to achieve more concerns about consistency among “assessors”, so
than just being exposed to a competency element). some moderation may be required. In addition, the
assessors do need some training and practice with
3 COMPETENCY ACHIEVEMENTS the process. The first approach may be more self-
moderating as it is conducted as a group activity.
Once the set of targets is established and recognised The assessment process for the CDIO framework
for the relevant engineering degree program, the should involve the following:
next task is to assess the sources of the knowledge
• Taking each competency indicator (at Level 4).
or skill that actually results from the program of
study. Usually a program is composed of a number • Assessing the actual level of proficiency by
(sometimes many) of sources (units, courses, projects, examining the stated learning outcomes (say,
practicums, work episode reports, etc.). If each of from the University Handbook description), the
these is to contribute to the overall achievement of local knowledge of the teaching and assessment
the program then they must be formally assessed. processes, and the actual content of the unit as
delivered.
Generally any single source will make a small
• Aggregating the Level 4 assessments to the Level
number of contributions to the overall achievement,
3 competency items (this might by a maximal or
as it is typically focused on specialist subject matter.
averaging process).
Some, particularly problem-based or project-based
sources, may have a wide range of contributions to • Comparing these actual outcomes against the
make. For most university programs, each source will target profile.
(or should) be accompanied by a set of well-defined A detailed analysis of a complete program on a
learning outcomes. Ideally each of these should also source-by-source basis from a real case study using
be expressed in the form of Action Verb + Cognitive the CDIO framework would not be particularly useful
Object (or Process). By using the same assessment within Australia for accreditation, and therefore has
scale (ie. the CDIO 5-point scale) it is then possible not been undertaken. However, to demonstrate how
to assess these learning outcomes. An example of the results might look, the authors have performed
such a process for the Engineers Australia Stage 1 an “overall” assessment of a civil engineering degree
competencies for an Bachelor of Technology program program. A more detailed example of an analysis is
has been reported elsewhere (Roy & Armarego, 2011). reported elsewhere (Roy & Armarego, 2011).
In that case the program is composed of 24 units of
The result of this example analysis is shown in figure
study over a three-year program. More recently the
3. To interpret this chart, the:
same approach has been used for a successful and
comprehensive review of all BEng and MEng courses • actual assessment of proficiency from the program
at Edith Cowan University. is shown as a green-coloured overlay on top of
the target profile (taken from figure 2)
The process involved in the assessment of sources can
• lighter-green sectors indicate where the actual
be undertaken in various ways for varying levels of
assessments exceed the target values
granularity, for example:
• exposed red-coloured sectors indicate where the
• In a group activity with persons who have
assessments are less than the targets values.
a detailed knowledge of all the contributing
sources in a program, providing an estimate of the It is now not too difficult to see how the actual
overall outcome from these source contributions assessments match the targets. Given some guidelines
to each competency item. This is a particularly on the levels of compliance (eg. must satisfy all,

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


6 “Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy

Figure 3: Competency assessments overlaid on targets at Level 3.

must satisfy holistically, etc.) then there is a basis resources can be redirected to improve outcomes
for accepting or otherwise a claim for accreditation in other areas.
from these data. • can form the basis of a decision on accreditation.
These results can be also displayed at a higher level In effect we have a clear statement of outcomes that
(eg. Level 2) by aggregating all the Level 3 nodes should prove useful to both institutions claiming
to produce results like those shown in figure 4. accreditation as well as the authorities undertaking
Depending on the user requirements aggregations the accreditation process.
like this can be based on:
1. an average value, on the basis that all child nodes
make a contribution to the aggregated value of 4 AUDITING ASSESSMENTS
their parent nodes
The analysis described above provides a way of
2. a maximal value, on the basis that if a competency presenting assessments of a program against a
is achieved in any one child then it is achieved in competency framework, but in a summary form.
the parent. Figure 4 shows a maximal aggregation. From an accreditation perspective these claims need
The value of these competency charts (figures 3 and to be auditable. To achieve this, audit trails must be
4) is that they can be used in a number of ways, for identified and be able to be presented as a part of the
example they: accreditation process. Auditing can only be usefully
done if the assessment is being undertaken across
• clearly identify competency areas that are not
all the sources (courses, units, etc.) that make up the
being achieved at the required proficiency. This
program being assessed.
may suggest that changes are required to improve
either, or both, the scope or depth of the content Auditing propositions might be put (for example)
of the appropriate sources in the program. like this:
• clearly identify competency areas where the • For a nominated competency item, identify all
program exceeds the targets. This may indicate those sources that contribute to this competency
a program strength, or perhaps areas from which (this is a backward trace).

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


“Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy 7

Figure 4: Competency assessments aggregated to Level 2.

(a) (b)

Figure 5: The auditing process – (a) backward trace, and (b) forward trace.

• For a nominate source, identify all competency described an approach used at the University of
items that this source contributes to (this is a Sydney that indicates the complexity of the task. In
forward trace). broad terms a similar process is proposed here and
this is shown in figure 6 as implemented in CCmapper.
These trace types are shown diagrammatically in In this example we are using the Engineers Australia
figure 5. competency framework, though the process would
Taken together these tracings provide a solid equally apply to a CDIO-based model.
foundation for validating a claim against the The process involved requires:
competency framework. The process requires • identification of specific learning outcomes
formally mapping the learning outcomes (as in the source documentation as presented in
provided in the source description) to the appropriate the text of the handbook description, or other
competency item. Popp & Levy (2010) have already documentation, of the source

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


8 “Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy

Figure 6: Mapping unit outcomes to competency items.

Table 3: Example backward trace showing units contributing to competency.

Mapping for PE1.1.a: <Engages> with the engineering discipline at a phenomenological level, applying
sciences and engineering fundamentals to systematic investigation, interpretation, analysis and
innovative solution of complex problems and broader aspects of engineering practice. [Target:3]

Source: ENM3218: Fluid Mechanics [Level:3]


Source: ENS1101: Engineering Mechanics [Level:3]
Source: ENS1115: Materials and Manufacturing 1 [Level:2]
Source: ENS1162: Electrical Engineering 1A [Level:4]
Source: ENS2110: Materials and Manufacturing 2 [Level:3]
Source: ENS2160: Thermodynamics [Level:2]
Source: ENS3180: Finite Element Methods [Level:2]
Source: ENS3190: Mechanics of Solids [Level:2]
Source: MAT1163: Linear Algebra [Level:4]
Source: MAT1236: Calculus 1 [Level:3]
Source: MAT2437: Differential Equations [Level:3]

• linking these text selections to specific competency Table 3 provides a sample backward trace. In this case
items for the selected Engineers Australia competency item
• providing a proficiency level (what is achieved we can report all of the sources (units) that contribute
from the source) on the CDIO 5-point scale. and their level of contribution. An accreditation
assessor, therefore, could easily then go to the source
The CCmapper tool provides support to efficiently (and any associated resources, including staff) to
collect these data while minimising some of the more verify the claims.
tedious aspects of the task.
Table 4 shows a forward trace (part of) for one of
With this mapping in place the CCmapper tool can the sources (ENM3218) identified in table 3. In this
extract both backward and forward traces. The case we can see the range of competency items
formal process is described by the authors elsewhere mapped from the learning outcomes in the unit.
(Roy & Armarego, 2011). This type of analysis might be particularly useful to

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


“Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy 9

Table 4: Example forward trace showing contributions of a unit to competencies.

Mapping for ENM3218: Fluid Mechanics


PE1.1.a [3] :
[3] Text:apply mass, Bernoulli and energy equations to the analysis of steady flows
[3] Text:perform momentum analysis and dimensional analysis for flow systems
[3] Text:identify critical uniform flow and the best hydraulic cross sections
[3] Text:interpret pump performance curves and match a pump to a piping system
PE1.2.a [2] :
[2] Text:calculate fluid properties and identify fluid type including compressible flow
[2] Text:calculate losses and measure flow rates of internal flows
[2] Text:calculate and control lift and drag
PE1.3.a [4] :
[4] Text:perform momentum analysis and dimensional analysis for flow systems
[4] Text:identify critical uniform flow and the best hydraulic cross sections
[4] Text:interpret pump performance curves and match a pump to a piping system
PE1.4.b [2] :
[2] Text:calculate fluid properties and identify fluid type including compressible flow
[2] Text:calculate and control lift and drag
[2] Text:interpret pump performance curves and match a pump to a piping system
...

unit coordinators who are responsible for planning a substantial effort required to build, review and
the scope and depth of the knowledge and skills analyse assessment models to meet the appropriate
developed in the unit. accreditation requirements. The methodology
These audit reports can be quite extensive and are not presented in this paper provides one approach to
suitable for concise reporting. CCmapper provides a supporting these tasks.
more compact mapping chart as shown in figure 7. The CCmapper modelling tool provides support
In this example, each source comprising the program for the representation of hierarchically structured
is shown across the chart (the columns) and each competency frameworks and the capture of
competency items forms a row. To interpret this chart: assessments made to set proficiency targets and to
• The target values are shown in the target column compare actual achievements against these targets. It
of the chart. also provides a formal structure to enable a range of
• A green-coloured cell indicates an assessment for auditing tasks to be facilitated to support the claims
that source against that competency item that is being made against the accreditation criteria.
equal to or better than the target level.
The reporting capabilities include text reports
• A red-coloured cell indicates that the assessment and graphical charts. These can present concise
is less than the target. summaries of these analyses, and in a form that can
• A empty cell indicates that this source makes no be used directly in the preparation and validation of
(or very little) contribution to the competency. accreditation documentation.
• By scanning across a row we can see where the
competencies are being achieved (or claimed).
REFERENCES
• By scanning down a column we can see what
contributions a source is making to various Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
competencies.
(ABET), 2011, Criteria for Accrediting Engineering
Programs, Baltimore, MD.
5 SUMMARY
Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D. R. 2001, A Taxonomy
As the interest for formal accreditation of engineering for Learning, Teaching and Assessment: A Revision of
program becomes more universal there is a need for Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Complete
open, objective and repeatable processes that can Edition, New York, Longman.
support the task of preparing and presenting claims
for accreditation from institutions (and perhaps Bloom, B. S. 1956, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,
individuals). When undertaken manually, there is Susan Fauer Co Inc.

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


10 “Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy

Figure 7: The mapping chart (part).

Campbell, D., Dawes, L., Beck, H., Wallace, S., Levy, D. C. 2011, “Using CDIO to Meet Accrediation
Reidsema, C. & Dansie, B. 2009, “An Extended CDIO Expectations at the University of Sydney”, Proceedings
Syllabus Framework with Preparatory Engineering 7th International CDIO Conference, 20-23 June, Technical
Proficiencies”, Proc. 5th International CDIO Conference, University, Denmark.
Singapore Polytechnic.
Popp, A. B. & Levy, D. C. 2010, “The Development
Crawley, E. F. 2001, The CDIO Syllabus: A Statement of a New Efficient and Cost-Effective Mapping
of Goals for Undergraduate Engineering Education, Process to be Used with Generic Frameworks with
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. the Aim of Curriculum Improvement”, Proceedings
6th International CDIO Conference, 15-18 June, Ecole
Crawley, E. F., Malmqvist, J., Lucas, W. A. & Broder, Polytechnique, Montreal.
D. R. 2011, “The CDIO Syllabus v2.0: An Updated
Statement of Goals for Engineering Education”, 7th Rassau, A. & Roy, G. G. 2011, “Profiling Graduate
International CDIO Conference, 20-23 June, Technical Outcomes for Stage 1 Professional Engineers”, AAEE
University of Denmark, Copenhagen. 2011, Perth, pp. 248-253.

Engineers Australia, 2011, National Generic Stage 1 Roy, G. G. & Armarego, J. 2011, “Modelling
Competency Standards. Competency Standards to Facilitate Accreditation:
A Pathways Perspective”, AAEE 2011, December,
European Federation of National Engineering Fremantle, Western Australia, pp. 530-535.
Associations, 2008, EUR_ACE Framework Standards
for the Accreditation of Engineering Programmes. SFIA Foundation, 2010, “Framework Reference SFIA
Version 4G”, www.sfia.org.uk.
I n t e r n a t i o n a l E n g i n e e r i n g A l l i a n c e , 2 0 11 ,
“Washington Accord”, www.washingtonaccord. Worldwide CDIO Initiative, n.d., “CDIO Members”,
org, accessed June 2011. http://www.cdio.org/cdio-members.

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


“Curriculum assessment for professional accreditation: A modelling ...” – Armarego & Roy 11

JOCELYN ARMAREGO

Jocelyn Armarego is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering & Information


Technology at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. Her primary
research interests are in learning theory and how these are applied in teaching
technical skills, with a special interest in software engineering. She is a member
of the Information, Telecommunications and Electronics College Board of
Engineers Australia, and a representative on the National Committee on
Software Engineering.

GEOFFREY ROY

Geoffrey G Roy is a consultant in engineering curriculum development, planning


and assessment for accreditation. He has held a number of senior academic
roles in leading the development of new engineering programs and developing
accreditation submissions. He also holds an Adjunct Professorship in the School
of Engineering at Edith Cowan University, in Perth, Western Australia.

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education Vol 19 No 1


Copyright of Australasian Journal of Engineering Education is the property of Institution of
Engineers Australia, trading as Engineers Australia and its content may not be copied or
emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

You might also like