Assessment of Undergraduate Students' Learning Outcomes in Finland (Kappas!)

Abstract

The Kappas! study investigated the level of Finnish undergraduate students’ generic skills, what factors are associated with the level of generic skills, and to what extent these skills develop during higher education studies. The participants (n = 2402) were initial and final stage Bachelor-level students from 11 universities and 7 universities of applied sciences in Finland. The assessed generic skills were analytic reasoning and evaluation, problem solving, writing effectiveness, and writing mechanics. They were measured by Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) International instrument developed by US-based Council for Aid to Education (CAE). CLA+ International consisted of one performance task (PT), 25 selected-response questions (SRQs), and a background information survey. The instrument was translated from English into Finnish and Swedish. An internet-based testing was carried out at participating higher education institutions between August 2019 and March 2020.

The Kappas! dataset contains national raw data in SPSS format (.sav) accompanied with data key files in Excel format (.xlsx). The raw data contain data on students sampled from 18 Finnish higher education institutions*. The identification information of the students as well as the names of the higher education institutions have been removed from the dataset.

For detailed description of the objectives, implementation, and results of the Kappas! study, please see the final report of the project (in Finnish): Ursin, J., Hyytinen, H. & Silvennoinen, K. (toim.) 2021. Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden geneeristen taitojen arviointi : Kappas!-hankkeen tuloksia. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2021:6. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-263-892-2

*HEI-specific data are confidential and cannot be published. Each participating HEI has received its own data anonymized.