Knowledge gaps are common and apparent in students owing to their varied personal backgrounds. This is compounded by the diversity of the global student pool. Addressing knowledge gaps during a course is of great importance to ensure a maximum outcome and successful completion of the course. However, in order to reduce the gaps that students may have, it is necessary first to establish what those gaps are. Two of many approaches to this are ‘self-assessment’ and ‘objective’ assessment.

Self-assessment, if reliable, provides a simple way of tailoring a course structure to reduce knowledge gaps. Objective assessment, through the use of subject-specific questions is expected to be more independent, but its preparation, completion and analysis requires significantly greater effort and time. Objective assessment is also inevitably less global in the scope than self-assessment for any particular subject, being limited by the number of questions which can be asked within a realistic timeframe.

Questionnaires were designed to identify knowledge gaps within very small (3 individuals), medium (10-20 individuals) and large (135 individuals) sized groups. The questionnaires were completed by students individually at the beginning of the course and were anonymous.

Questionnaires were structured to include two distinct sections: self-assessment of knowledge and objective assessment of knowledge. Ample time was made available for all groups to complete the questionnaires and students were asked not to correct their self-assessment ratings in the light of the subsequent objective assessment section.

The self-assessment category quantifies the amount of fact and practical experience-based knowledge an individual believes they have relating to a specific topic. The objective assessment poses a series of fact-based and practical-based questions in each subject area and in this way provides an objective knowledge score.

Subsequently, the gathered data were statistically analysed by the Survey Unit at two levels: 1. Intra-group analysis and 2. Cross-group analysis. The intra-group analysis compares the self-assessment with the objective, question-based, ratings of knowledge and practical experience. The cross-group analysis focuses on a comparison between the three different groups.

Initial results suggest that self-assessment does give an indication of knowledge gaps within a particular group. This is both in terms of knowledge gained via practical experience, and that developed through formal study. The tendency of students, however, was to underestimate their knowledge. It is interesting to speculate that self-confidence may be a major factor.

The identification of gaps within the student population will form the basis for revised teaching methods targeted at reducing the gaps in the shortest period of time. Although this research was limited to the assessment of knowledge in technical disciplines, it may be applicable to other areas of skills development and other areas study.