2018 Volume 12 Pages 61-75
The aim of this paper is to propose an analytical framework of disciplinary learning outcomes that will facilitate our understanding of the nature of disciplines and their relationships.
Application of the draft analytical framework, Anderson and Krathwohl's “Taxonomy of Educational Objectives” to engineering learning outcome reference points revealed the necessity for revision, by replacing the “meta-cognitive knowledge” type with what was labeled in this study as “societal/civic engagement.” This new knowledge type refers to the responsibilities and contributions of engineers to society and to the wider interdisciplinary context of engineering, and reflects the contemporary attention to societal and interdisciplinary contributions of disciplines.
The revised analytical framework of disciplinary learning outcomes captured well the characteristics of engineering, a highly structured discipline with specified sets of knowledge graduates are expected to understand, but also a discipline that has traditionally focused on the application of scientific knowledge to solve problems in the real world. The established engineering competences of “basic and engineering sciences,” “engineering analysis,” “engineering design,” “engineering practice,” and “engineering generic skills” revealed to occupy particular fields on the taxonomy table, illustrating the structure of engineering learning outcomes.
The future direction of this study includes the application of the revised analytical framework to other disciplinary learning outcome reference points. By analyzing and comparing the characteristics of disciplinary learning outcomes based on a common analytical framework, we are able to capture disciplinary structures in a systematic way, and thus develop profiles of disciplines, which will provide the foundation for constructing a theory of disciplinary relationships in contemporary society.
