In the contemporary world of digitalisation, comprehensive digital competence (DC) is and should be an integral part of students' repertoire to guarantee not only academic but also professional success. However, the level and requirements for DC may vary within specific educational contexts, especially in culturally oriented institutions. This…

Econometrics has become increasingly important in Economics and Business degrees, since it appears to be narrowly related to several main skills and competencies as information management, creativity, problem-solving or decision-making. Furthermore, the development of information technologies, including econometric software, makes it possible to…

The cry that today's higher education students are particularly individualist is a commonly-heard one. In England, the considerable personal cost of tuition is often blamed for creating a series of negative student traits, including consumerism (an idea that one has bought the right to a degree) and individualism (a sense of the individual as the…

The task of higher education is twofold: (1) to prepare students to meet the expectations of the labor market; and (2) to create a learning environment and conditions so that as many students can meet the subject requirements as possible, the dropout rate should be the lowest possible. Input and continuous monitoring of students' transversal…

This study has three aims: (1) test the effectiveness of using an ebook based on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Task to empower critical explanatory ability; (2) examine the influence of problem-solving style differences on critical explanatory ability; and (3) assess the interaction between the use of CLA Task-based Ebooks and…

Even though using group examinations aligns well with the epistemology of problem-based learning (PBL), the dilemma of using joint learning while simultaneously fulfilling individual assessment requirements in higher education make group examinations difficult to use. In this study, the aim was to explore whether an individual reflection paper…

This study investigates the effects of using design thinking on students' problem solving and creativity skills, applying a constructivist learning theory. A course where students use design thinking for analyzing real problems and proposing a solution, was evaluated. The study involved 910 novice university students from different disciplines who…

The aims of university System Dynamics (SD) programs include the mastery of systems thinking skills, modeling skills, and/or application to solving real-world, dynamic, complex problems. Existing research has articulated learning sequences of what learners should know and be able to do, and when. It is called the competence development framework…

This study offers a critical examination of university policies developed to address recent challenges presented by generative AI (GenAI) to higher education assessment. Drawing on Bacchi's 'What's the problem represented to be' (WPR) framework, we analysed the GenAI policies of 20 world-leading universities to explore what are considered problems…

Balancing assessment of learning outcomes with the expectations of students is a perennial challenge in education. Difficult exams, in which many students perform poorly, exacerbate this problem and can inspire a wide variety of interventions, such as a grading curve. However, addressing poor performance can sometimes distort or inflate grades and…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents a three part series on fixing assessments. Assessment means different things, but it almost always includes accreditation reporting. In Part 1: David Eubanks describes what went wrong with the accreditation standards on learning assessment and the compliance culture that they created. This…

Making engineering courses more diverse and inclusive has received increased support recently. The Include program aims to transform the academic environment in engineering to empower students who identify as neurodiverse; and, as part of the program, the statics course, a required course for all civil engineering majors, was redesigned based on…

To address global challenges such as climate change, we must prepare an engineering workforce of sustainability-minded engineers ready to tackle complex socio-technical problems with multiple stakeholders. Frameworks like the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have begun to drive structural changes in engineering education,…

The U.S. Department of Education advocates strongly using assessment of student learning as a means of maintaining high standards of education. Instructors use mostly multiple choice and discussion questions as assessment tools. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of multiple-choice and discussion questions and participant…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents a three part series on fixing assessments. In Part 1, David Eubanks advocates for a collaborative model of assessment as the field enters a fourth decade of low return on investment. In Part 2, Megan R. Good laments the opportunity cost of continuing the define-measure-improve assessment model…