A Modelling Framework For Curriculum Assessment For Professional Accreditation

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 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 some actual case studies using 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.