Practical Exploration of Using Competency Maps to Promote the Achievement of Teaching Objectives

Abstract

To address such problems in higher vocational specialized courses as vaguely stated teaching objectives, a disconnect between teaching implementation and those objectives, and the difficulty of verifying whether the objectives have been attained, this paper takes the course "Automobile Chassis Structure and Maintenance" as an example to explore a reform path that uses a competency map to promote the achievement of teaching objectives. Following the five-level mapping relationship of "post group – typical work item – work task – competency element – course module," a course competency map covering five teaching modules and twenty-one core work tasks was constructed. Through objective decomposition, task-driven instruction and process tracking, teaching and objectives were brought into close alignment; through observable evaluation criteria, multiple forms of process verification and a comprehensive assessment loop, the attainment of the objectives was examined; and a dynamic updating mechanism of "evaluation feedback – map iteration – objective optimization" was put in place. Practice shows that the competency map turns abstract course objectives into competency points that are observable, evaluable and traceable, drives teaching from a knowledge-based toward a competency-based orientation, and provides a replicable path for achieving the objectives of higher vocational specialized courses.