A reference model for presentation of studies in competency-based education in engineering and computing

Competency-Based Education (CBE) has established itself as an effective educational method, as it focuses on the development of essential skills and competencies for professional practice. However, in the field of computing and engineering, this approach is still underrepresented. One of the challenges in the area is the lack of standardization in the way as studies are described and documented. This hinders the comprehension on the topic and the studies replication. This paper proposes a reference model supporting researchers on understanding and presentation of studies on CBE. The model was developed through an iterative and incremental process, following a rigorous selection of primary studies: each selected study incorporates new dimensions and attributes to the model. The proposed model has the potential to be supportive, as it can be used as a basis both for presenting studies on CBE and for analyzing the quality of published work.