Experiences in Continuous Assessment in the Subject

Abstract

The initial phases of development and implementation of assessment plans for the engineering programs at "New Building Materials Subject" at University of Burgos in Spain are presented. The plans are based upon an integrated set of strategies aimed at: establishing and maintaining a structured process that translates educational objectives into measurable outcomes and specifies feedback channels for corrective action; providing necessary assessment training; creating an assessment toolbox, and identifying and reviewing key institutional practices to ensure that they are aligned with the assessment process. The European Space for Higher Education (ESHE) involves important changes to several issues within the teaching methodology to be applied in the new degrees. Changes to the teaching methodology inevitably will imply changes in the evaluation methodology. In new evaluation systems, continuous evaluation will prevail over exclusively final evaluation. This paper describes an experience of how an optative subject "New Building Materials" is successfully used to implement a continuous assessment methodology.