Test-Based Blueprint Evaluation A Case Study on Software Engineering Course

The core concept of blueprinting has been widely employed to reproduce specific drawings in both academia and industry. In the modern electronic world, the concept of blueprinting has taken on a new shape. The intention behind creating a blueprint is to prepare a detailed plan of action before final execution. It is a systematic approach that ensures best educational practices. The purpose of this article is to validate the impact of applying a blueprint in exams-namely, in the final exam of a software engineering course in the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Computer and Information Technology in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. This paper proposes a new and adaptable blueprint design that fulfils the requirements of both the course and the department. A controlled experiment was carried out among students of the Department of Computer Science in Fall 2017 and Fall 2018, respectively. The students were divided into two groups: The control group comprised the students who registered for Course Program Computer Science CPCS 351 in Fall 2017 and sat the final exam without using the blueprint method. The experimental group comprised the students who registered for CPCS 351 in Fall 2018 and sat the final exam using the blueprint method. An analysis of variance and a t-test were applied to compare the results of both groups' final exams. The results confirm that the use of blueprints in the final exam improved the performance of the students in the experimental group in comparison to the control group.