Chair of Business Education and Human Resource Development

"CoSMed" - Competence Measurement based on Simulations and adaptive Testing in Medical Settings - funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Duration: December 2011 to May 2015)

Brief description
The research project CoSMed (Competence Measurement based on Simulations and adaptive Testing in Medical Settings) is part of the funding initiative "Technology-based Assessment of Skills and Competencies in Vocational Education and Training" (Ascot), which started in December 2011. The project is focused on competence measurement and modeling in the health sector at a medium level of proficiency (ISCED level 3), namely for Medical Assistants.
It is the aim of the project to develop a multidimensional competence model and subject it to empirical validation. The project focuses on occupational knowledge, specifically on conceptual and procedural knowledge, but it is recognized that acting successfully in medical settings also requires cross-occupational competencies such as communicative and co-operative skills. Moreover, there is strong evidence that competence models in occupational fields must include non-cognitive facets, for example emotion, motivation, and self-regulation.
In order to characterize the domain, occupational tasks and processes, working tools and work results were observed in different institutional settings and, additionally, current vocational curricula were analyzed. This resulted in a taxonomy of the required knowledge and skills. A three-dimensional domain-specific competency model was developed which distinguishes between the facets of medical-health-related tasks in the care of patients, socio-communicative skills, and business-administrative activities. The competency model takes theoretical assumptions as to the modeling of levels of professional competence into account which are to be tested empirically.
In order to obtain good estimates of individual abilities, while keeping the effort for testees within acceptable limits, adaptive testing is envisaged as a viable approach to measuring conceptual knowledge in the medical field. Procedural professional knowledge will be assessed by way of computer simulations and video clips.
It is anticipated that during the next few years, the research will be extended with the aim of measuring learning outcomes in Vocational Education and Training across international settings. Therefore, in different countries an active search is ongoing for partners who are interested in competence measurement in the social and health care sectors as well as in other occupational fields, in particular in the field of business administration, where projects with a similar approach are in progress.

Publications and Presenations

  • Seeber, Susan, Ketschau, Thilo. & Rüter, Theresa. (2016). Struktur und Niveau beruflicher Fachkompetenz Medizinischer Fachangestellter. In S. Weber, K. Beck & O. Köller (Hrsg.), Kompetenzmodelle für die berufliche Bildung. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 44.Jahrgang/2016/Heft 2, 185-203.
  • Seeber, Susan, Schumann, Matthias, Ketschau, Thilo, Rüter, Theresa, & Kleinhans, Janne (2016). Modellierung und Messung von Fachkompetenzen Medizinischer Fachangestellter (CoSMed). In F. Oser, M. Landenberger & K. Beck (Hrsg.), Technologiebasierte Kompetenzmessung in der beruflichen Bildung – Resultate aus dem Forschungsprogramm ASCOT (S. 205-223). Bielefeld: Bertelsmann.
  • Seeber, Susan (2016). Vom Domänenmodell zum Kompetenzmodell: Konturen eines Assessmentdesigns zur Messung beruflicher Fachkompetenzen bei Medizinischen Fachangestellten. bwp@-Profil 4. http://www.bwpat.de/profil4/seeber_profil4.pdf



Presentations at Conferences



Coordinator

  • Prof. Dr. Susan Seeber



Project staff

  • Theresa Rüter M.Sc.
  • Dipl. Pädagoge Thilo J. Ketschau



Joint Project Partners

  • Prof. Dr. Matthias Schumann, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Professur für Anwendungssysteme und E-Business
  • Christian Triebe; Barbara Waldeck & Christa Robrecht, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Abteilung Personalentwicklung und Personalmanagement
  • Dr. Agnes Dietzen, Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB), Arbeitsbereich Kompetenzentwicklung
  • Prof. Dr. Andreas Frey, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Professur für empirische Methoden der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Forschung
  • Prof. Dr. Birgit Ziegler Technische Universität Darmstadt, Institut für Allgemeine Pädagogik und Berufspädagogik