A Competency-Based Transformation in Computing and Engineering Education in the Digital Era

Abstract

In today’s world, humanity is immersed in a digital era where technological advances driven by computers permeate everyone’s life. The situation raises the need for computing and engineering education to inform students of their responsibilities to society and their preparation to enter higher education and the workplace. Competency and technical performance are central to this thinking. This article poses two questions: Has competency-based learning in computing and engineering transformed into the current digital age? If so, to what extent has computing and engineering education adopted competency-based learning in their curricula? The authors explore three reports affecting computing and engineering education to address these queries. They include the 2019 Chinese Computer Education for Sustainable Competence (Blue Book), the Computing Curricula 2020: Paradigms for Global Computing Education, and the 2023 Infinite Possibilities: Report on the Digital Development of Global Higher Education. The first emphasizes the importance and necessary elements of sustainable competency and agile education for computing and engineering in the digital era. The second defines competency as a triad of knowledge, skills, and human dispositions; it promotes the transformation from knowledge-based to competency-based learning. The third report provides a pathway for the modern digital development of global higher education in a digital and technological age. All three publications support directly or indirectly the transformation of competency into the current digital age. However, computing and engineering programs have yet to adopt competency-based learning in their curricula. Time can tell whether sustainable competency will permeate computing and engineering education globally. In the meantime, academicians and industry professionals should continue pursuing the cause to prepare students and graduates adequately as they become part of the digital era.

Keywords

computing education in the digital era, agile education, sustainable competency, digital transformation of higher education

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2024 Higher Education Press