Implementation of bridge modeling competition in evaluating the students competency

Students' skills and competency serve as a vital requirement that can contribute to their marketability. It can be directly formed in lectures or indirectly through exposure and competition students engaged in. To build and nurture the skills and competency of the students in the Civil and Structural Engineering Department, a bridge model competition was carried out in Semester 1 for Session 2014/2015. The bridge model competition among the First Year students has become the initial platform for lecturers to assess students' competency. Two courses namely LMCK 1331 Effective Communication and LMCK 1531 Leadership and Creativity were assessed in this competition. From this competition, all students need to apply and integrate their knowledge learned from various courses either at the matriculation level or at the university level. Students' preparation and discussion in groups either during training or competition day indirectly can increase their communication skills and spirit of cooperation among themselves. At the end of the competition, students are required to produce a report, present and test the bridge model. The performances of the students were evaluated using specific rubrics. Through the evaluation carried out during the competition, it was found that students have successfully showed their creativity in constructing and presenting the bridge model. Overall, eighty eight percent of the students obtained A grade, ten percent A-grade and 2 percent with E grade in both courses.