Ministry of Education

Test Blueprint for National Exit Examination to be held in

2015 E.C

Band: II

Program: - Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Science

Compiled By: Solomon Alemu (Jimma University)

Girma Aweke (Addis Ababa University)

January, 2023
Bahir Dar,
Ethiopia

Table of Contents

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1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
2. Objective of test blueprint.....................................................................................................................2
3. Expected profile of the Graduates........................................................................................................2
4. General objective of the program.........................................................................................................6
5. Specific objectives of the programs......................................................................................................6
6. Themes and list of courses....................................................................................................................7
7. Total credit hour of the selected courses..............................................................................................9
8. Share of the Themes/Courses/Items in Percentage (%)......................................................................9
First theme...........................................................................................................................................10
Second theme.......................................................................................................................................10
Third theme.........................................................................................................................................10
Fourth theme........................................................................................................................................10
Fifth theme...........................................................................................................................................10
9. Conclusion............................................................................................................................................19

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1. Introduction
The Ministry of Education of Ethiopia has announced the implementation of exit exam for all
undergraduate program students (public and private), beginning with the 2022/2023 academic
year, in order to improve the quality of graduates produced by higher learning institutions. The
exit exam aimed at checking whether students have acquired the required knowledge, skills and
attitudes or not. To implement this, it requires determining competency areas for a specific
program, which is already completed. Based on the competency areas prepared, it needs to plan
the construction of tests.

Planning of a test is a first and vital step in the construction of an achievement test. An
achievement test demands very systematic and careful planning, as a fact that good planning is a
symbol of success. Tests are the tools that provide scores that measure level of student learning
and study program learning outcomes. In order to achieve the valid and reliable measurement of
student learning and program learning outcomes, the development of valid and reliable test is the
mandatory. Test should be able to measure student performance in all dimensions of knowledge,
skill and attitude. The carefully planned test construction contributes to improve the overall
quality of the test in terms of test content validity, difficulty level, discrimination power and test
reliability. Test preparation is not an easy task; it requires a careful planning and guideline to
make the task simple. Test construction needs the preparation of test blue print. Test blueprint is
defined as a complete plan that explains how to develop a test. The term refers to a map or
specification of assessment to ensure that all aspects of the curriculum and educational domains
are covered by the assessment programs over a specified period of time. It helps curriculum
developers/test constructors to match various competencies with the course content and the
appropriate modality of assessment.

Generally, test blueprint will help to ensure tests: 1) Appropriately assess the achievement of
instructional objectives of the course; 2) Appropriately reflect key course goals, objectives and
the material learned or covered during the instruction period; and 3) Include the appropriate item
formats along with the knowledge and skills being assessed.

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Keeping this in mind, the team has prepared this test blueprint document in order to help the test
developers or content specialists in their process of valid and reliable test construction. The
major points considered in the process of preparing this test blue print guideline were the core
competencies that have been already identified for the themes of courses, the course contents,
course credit hours, and the learning outcomes with their corresponding levels of achievement by
learning domains.

2. Objective of test blueprint

Test blueprint preparation is generally opted to assist the preparation of a test that is
representative, broadly sampled, and consisting of complete knowledge domain expected of the
Ethiopian higher education students on completion of their study program. The specific
objectives of test blueprint are to:
 Facilitate the construction of a representative and balanced test items for the selected
courses in accordance with the competencies identified.
 Guide test developers or writers to write or set appropriate test items.

3. Expected profile of the Graduates

A graduate's profile is the general description of the desirable qualities of graduates in real-world
work. Graduates' profile helps to determine the students’ conceptual knowledge, skills, and
attitude that they possess. A graduate profile can be advanced through experience in the real
world. It is known that Information Science graduates have the necessary understanding of
theoretical, analytical tools, and practical implementation of current information. Similarly, they
should have knowledge and skills in order to be competent around market area.

Accordingly, graduates in Information Science are expected to have the following professional
qualities after completing their education: -
 Manage organizational knowledge,
 Access, share, disseminate and evaluate information,
 Organize, store and retrieve data/information/knowledge,
 Construct information retrieval system,
 Setup index files and various literatures,
 Create, standardize and harvest metadata, curating data,
 Design and create information/knowledge-based system/ Reasoning system,
 Review information platforms,

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  Design and implement information strategy,
 Articulate and implement information policy,
 Design, create, implement and update new information system,
 Devise, design and implement a database,
 Conduct data mining and interpret mined data,
 Catalogue and classify record/ information/knowledge,
 Prepare subject/special bibliography,
 Design and build digital library
 Design, implement, evaluate and maintain web sites,
 Manage and maintain archival collection,
 Automate information resource centers,
 Develop and implement multimedia products,
 Design and Setup a computer network,
 Manage, Review and implement intellectual property law and right,
 Conduct research in information and related studies
 Conduct information/technology training,
 Provide business intelligence information,
 Plan, manage and control information resource centers.

In order to make clear demarcation between the three core competency areas, the following table
is organized: -

Table 1. Competency areas and expected indicators

Areas of Competency Expected Competencies to be achieved

Knowledge
After completing their education, Information Science
professionals can: -

 Understand technological, social, political, professional and

economic environments of information,
 Interpret information of different communities,
 Recognise communication patterns across a range of
communities,
 Understand different programming languages,
 Identify information skills,
 Understand how to create, capture, store, disseminate and

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Areas of Competency Expected Competencies to be achieved

retrieve information,
 Apprehend ranges of media and their formats,
 Realize the principles of Information and Communications
Technologies;
 Understand how to market information services.
Skills After completing their education, Information Science
professionals are expected to have the following transferable
skills: -

 Plan, design and manage automation system,

 Design and implement a computer network,
 Plan, manage and control information services,
 Create and use information retrieval tools,
 Produce, utilize and evaluate information standards,
 Apply information and knowledge life cycle,
 Apply programming languages to solve different real world
problems,
 Undertake independent projects and evaluate other systems
project,
 Develop local, regional, national and international
information policies,
 Analyse and evaluate the information needs,
 Evaluate information and knowledge base systems,
 Manage organizational knowledge,
 Provide alternative solutions to problems,
 Manage data and present appropriate results in a suitable
manner,
 Evaluate the quality of information retrieved,
 Produce a research report in a coherent and well-argued way,
 Link and integrate theory, practice and work experience,

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Areas of Competency Expected Competencies to be achieved

 Undertake independent research,

 Interact effectively with customers and peers,
 Differentiate information and organizational structures,
functions and goals,
 Engage in discussions in a professional issues,
 Create, manipulate and format documents using appropriate
software,
 Create and implement database of information system,
 Design a multimedia presentation using appropriate
software,
 Use a range of electronic information systems like Web
browsers, Internet search engines, OPACs and online hosts,
 Communicate electronically,
 Apply professional and ethical framework,
 Continue professional development and lifelong learning.
Attitudes After completing their education, information Science
professionals are expected to have the following cognitive
skills and attitudes:-

 Appreciate and solve problems, work with information

(being part of the solution),
 Handle a mass of diverse data, assess challenges and draw
conclusions,
 Provide information analysis, judgment and attention to
details,
 Improve self-awareness, emotional intelligence and
performance,
 Appreciate creativity, decisiveness, and initiative,
 Demonstrate flexibility, adaptability, tolerance to challenges,
 Motivate initiative, listening, questioning and influencing

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Areas of Competency Expected Competencies to be achieved

lifelong learning and

 Play a leadership role.

4. General objective of the program

The Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Science is aimed at producing new graduates to
satisfy the scarce skilled human power of the country and pay a concern to insufficient emphasis
on information resource centers, services and its sciences, which would have played a great role
in the country’s academic revolution. The challenge also, is to both broaden horizons and to
sharpen skills that will be important as the student matures as a professional and alleviate the
country’s skilled human resource in the sector.

5. Specific objectives of the programs

The specific objectives of the Information Science program are to produce skilled professional
information scientist:
 That can plan, design, develop, organize, and manage traditional and modern information
resource centers/libraries/agencies in the country;
 Understand the relationship among society, people, organizations, and technology and
identify the implications for managing and using information technology in the
information resource centers and information agencies through management skills,
critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making and appropriate for the workplace;
 Assume a leadership role in traditional and interdisciplinary research and scholarship that
address information issues;
 Educate within and for a rapidly changing technological world and understand how
technology is reshaping and affecting information resource centers/agencies and the
profession;
 Prepare students to understand the interactions between social factors and information
environments;

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  Create understanding of the historical, social, cultural, educational, political, and
economic dimensions of information on information resource centers and agencies;
 Create understanding of the role of information technologies, services and organizations
in globalization;
 Teach and foster professional attitudes and information service philosophy;
 Involve in the development activities of the community and community organizations.

6. Themes and list of courses

National Exit Examination in Information Science program for undergraduate students’
competency has five thematic areas. These are: -

1. Foundation of Information Science

2. Programming
3. Data management and Networking
4. Knowledge management
5. Scientific studies and communication

The number of courses included under each thematic area and total credit hour are mentioned
below: -

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 Table 2. The five thematic areas of Information Science Program

Number of
Credit hour/
S.No. List of Themes in Information Science Program courses
ECTS
included

1 Foundation of Information Science 7 17/29

2 Programming 8 24/40

3 Data Management & Networking 6 17/28

4 Knowledge Management 8 24/42

5 Scientific Studies & Communication 7 19/33

Total 36 101/172

Table 3. Selected courses for Exit Examination

S. Course Cr.hr/
List of Themes List of courses
No Code ECTS

1. Introduction to Information INSC 2111 3/6

Science

1 Foundation of Information Science 2. Information Storage & INSC 4913

Retrieval system 3/5

Total 6/11

2 3. Fundamental of Programming I INSC 2221 3/5

4. Fundamental of Programming II INSC 2222 3/5

Programming
5. Visual Basic Programming INSC 3223 3/5

6. Internet Programming INSC 3713 3/5

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S. Course Cr.hr/
List of Themes List of courses
No Code ECTS

Total 12/20

7. Fundamentals of database INSC 2115 3/5

Data Management & Networking 8. Data Communication and INSC 2524 3/5
3
Networking
Total 6/10

9. Knowledge Organization and INSC 3414 4/7

management

Knowledge Management 10. Automation of library and INSC 3624 3/5

4 Information Systems
11. Multimedia System INSC 4615 3/5

Total 10/17

Scientific Studies & 12. Scholarly Communication INSC 3826 2/4

5 Communication
Total 2/4

7. Total credit hour of the selected courses

The total credit hour/ECTS for selected courses for national exit exam of Information Science
program is 36/62.

8. Share of the Themes/Courses/Items in Percentage (%)

In order to identify the share of each thematic areas for exit exam, we used the following
formula: -

a
Share of theme (T) = x 100 ,
b

Where “a” is the total credit hours of a theme and “b” is the total credit hours of the all the five
themes. Total credit hours of a theme is the sum of credit hours of courses in the theme.

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 a
Share of Foundation of Information Science = x 100
b
6
Share of Foundation of Information Science theme = x 100 = 17%
36
12
Share of Programming theme = x 100 = 33%
36
6
Share of Data Management & Networking theme = x 100 = 17%
36
10
Share of Knowledge Management theme = x 100 = 28%
36
2
Share of Scientific Studies & Communication theme = x 100 = 5%
36

In order to identify the share of each course for exit exam, we used the following formula: -

Credit hour of the course

Share of courses per theme (C) = x 100
Credit hour of the theme

First theme
3
1. Share of Introduction to Information Science course = x 100 = 50%
6
3
2. Share of Information Storage & Retrieval system course = x 100 = 50%
6

Second theme
3
1. Share of Fundamental of Programming I course = x 100 = 25%
12
3
2. Share of Fundamental of Programming II course = x 100 = 25%
12
3
3. Share of Visual Basic Programming course = x 100 = 25%
12
3
4. Share of Internet Programming course = x 100 = 25%
12

Third theme
3
1. Share of Fundamentals of database course = x 100 = 50%
6
3
2. Share of Data Communication and Networking course = x 100 = 50%
6

Fourth theme
4
1. Share of Knowledge Organization and management course = x 100 = 40%
10
3
2. Share of Automation of library and Information Systems course = x 100 = 30%
10
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 3
3. Share of Multimedia System course = x 100 = 30%
10

Fifth theme
2
1. Share of Scholarly Communication course = x 100 = 100%
2

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 Table 4. Test Blueprint (Table Specification) for BSC in Information Science
Learning outcomes
Cognitive

Themes Name of Crh Share of the

Understanding
Courses r themes in General objective of Learning Outcomes

Remembering

Psychomotor

No. of items
Application
% the course

Evaluation

Affective
Creation/
Analysis
Foundation of Introduction 3 Introduce basic issues Describe processes and systems
to in information for managing data, information
Information X
Information science, including the and knowledge by individuals
Science Science nature of information
and organizations
& overview of
information science Evaluate processes and systems
17% for managing data, information
and knowledge by individuals X
and organizations
Apply data, information and
knowledge management tools
to address the actual
information problems of an X
organization by working in
teams
Valuing the interaction X
between evolution of
information technology &
information society
Explain the interactions
between the evolution of
information technology,
information policy, the X
information professions, and
what has been called “the
information society.”
Information 3 Giving sufficient Describe components and kinds X
Storage & information for of information retrieval
Retrieval processing, indexing, systems

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 system querying, Analyze the different retrieval
organization, and models such as Boolean model,
classification of vector based retrieval model, X
textual documents. and probabilistic retrieval
model
Apply query languages, query
operations, string manipulation X
and search algorithms
Explain current issues in
information retrieval X
Explain the retrieval process
X
Describe automatic text
operation and automatic X
indexing
Programming 33% Describe and apply Understand basic concepts in X
Fundamental 3 the basics of C++ computer science such as
of programming (syntax Boolean logic and problem
Programming and semantic decomposition
I elements of the Apply programming skills to X
programming) solve biological problems
Understand programming X
concepts that will assist in
learning other languages (like
Java, perl, or python)
Analyse simple problems and X
formulate solutions

Develop computer programs X

Learn data structures X
Describe and Understand basic concepts in X
Fundamental 3 implement the basic computer science such as
of data structure Boolean logic and problem
Programming elements in C++ that decomposition
II serve as holding
homogenous data Analyse simple problems and X
primitives formulate solutions
Develop computer programs X

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 for quality program solving
Describe and implement the X
basic data structure elements in
C++

Describe and exercise the X

Arithmetic and Logic
operations implemented in C++
Practice good programming X
disciplines and styles
Visual Basic 3 Create Windows Differentiate between X
Programming applications using the Command Line Interface and
Visual C# or other Visual programming
recent visual Declare, initialize and assign X
programming values to variables within an
languages. application
Give properties of a control, X
writing code and Message Box
Create the code syntax for X
simple programming
statements using C# or other
language
Create Windows applications X
using the Visual C# or other
recent visual programming
languages
Working with Database X
Internet 3 Introduce the Introduce the fundamentals of X
Programming fundamentals of web web site creation concepts
site creation
concepts, develop, Understand Internet
manage, and maintain
X
programming tasks
professional web sites
using HTML, Demonstrate knowledge of X
JavaScript and
Cascading Style HTML, and CSS
Sheets.

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 Demonstrate knowledge of X
website development concepts
and terminology

Demonstrate a significant X
ability to plan, design, develop,
manage, and maintain HTML-
based websites

Create functional JavaScript for X

use in web pages to add
interactive applications to a site

Design, develop, implement X

and maintain HTML, XHTML,
CSS, JavaScript-enhanced
website
Data Fundamentals 3 17% Analyse and apply Design and implement a X
of database the concepts of complete database application
Management &
design and perform basic data X
Networking implementation of administration tasks
database systems build server-side support for X
Web-based persistent database
applications

Describe some aspect of the X

real world in terms of a
conceptual model
analyse some aspect of the real X
world in terms of a conceptual
model
Define database and benefits of X
database systems

Understand database X
management systems

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 Make right design decisions on X
the database structures for
particular applications
Data 3 Explore the various Understand the concepts and X
Communicati types of data principles of data
on and communication communications and computer
Networking systems, networks
networks
and their
applications.
Understand Protocols and X
various networking
components

Differentiate TCP/IP & OSI X

Reference Model

Build small to medium level X

Computer networks

Understand subnets X
Explore the various types of X
data communication systems

Knowledge Knowledge 4 28% Provide techniques Understand how to organize X

Organization for Subject analysis, knowledge
Management
and classification and
management control of Assign subject headings to
information resources
X
different information sources
of all kinds
Understand different X
classification scheme

Differentiate different X
classification scheme

Apply different classification X

scheme

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 Identify different cataloguing X
techniques

Implement different X
cataloguing techniques

Extract and organize metadata X

of resources
Automation 3 Identify and Understand library automation X
of library and implement the library
Information automation Identify the library automation X
Systems requirements requirements

Implement the library X

automation requirements

Identify library automation X

software

Apply library automation X

software

Identify the library automation X

modules

Organize the library X

automation modules
Multimedia 3 Identify & Manage Identify different formats of X
System different formats of information
information
Manage different formats of X
information

Understand concepts of text, X

image, video and audio
representation

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 Identify various colour models X
in image and video

Understand data compression X

algorithms

Implement data compression X

algorithms

Understand Optical Storage X

Media and Multimedia
Authoring and Tools

Work with various colour X

models in image and video

Scholarly 2 5% Examine the ways in Examine the ways in which X

Communicati which scholarly scholarly information is
on information is produced, disseminated, and
produced,
evaluated
disseminated, and
Scientific evaluated
Understand Print and digital X
Studies & modes of production
Communication
Identify the role of the X
information professional in
scholarly communication

Use simple bibliometric X

techniques to describe the
literatures

Table 5: The calculation of share of themes, courses and items from a course from a total of 100 test items for Information
Science program

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Themes Course Name Credit Weight of Number of test Cognitive
hour course or items from

Psychomotor
Understand
proportion each course

Remember
outcomes

Affective
Learning

Evaluate
Analyse

Create
Apply

Total
Theme Introduction to 3 3/6*100= 0.5*17 = 9 - 4 2 - 2 - 1 - 9
One Information 50%
Science
Share = Information 3 3/6*100= 0.5*17 = 8 - 5 2 1 - - - 8
17 Storage & 50%
items Retrieval system
from Theme one total credit 6
the total
Theme Fundamentals of 3 3/12*100 = 0.25*33=9 1 3 2 2 - 1 - 9
Two Programming I 25%
Fundamentals of 3 3/12*100 = 0.25*33=8 - 4 - 2 - 1 1 - 8
Programming II 25%
Share = Visual Basic 3 3/12*100 = 0.25*33=8 - - - 2 - 6 - - 8
33 programming 25%
items Internet 3 3/12*100 = 0.25*33=8 - 2 4 - - 2 - - 8
from programming 25%
the total Theme two total credit 12
Theme Fundamentals of 3 3/6*100= 0.5*17 = 9 1 2 - 1 - 4 1 9
Three database 50%
Data 3 3/6*100= 0.5*17 = 8 - 6 - 1 - 1 8
Share = communication and 50%
17 networking
items Theme Three total credit 6
from
the total
Theme Knowledge 4 4/10*100= 0.40*28=12 - 5 6 1 - - 12
Four Organization and 40%
management
Share = Automation of 3 3/10*100= 0.30*28=8 - 5 2 - - 1 8
library & 30%

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28 Information
items Systems
from Multimedia 3 3/10*100= 0.30*28=8 - 5 2 - - 1 8
the total Systems 30%
Theme Four total credit 10
Theme Scholarly 2 2/2*100 = 1*5 = 5 - 3 1 1 - - 5
Five Communication 100%
Share = Theme Five total credit 2
5 items
from
the total
Total 36 2 44 21 11 2 17 3 - 100

9. Conclusion
Exit examination can have a vital role in producing knowledgeable, skillful and attitudinally matured graduates. It contributes to
prepare competent graduates as it can serve as a quality check for effectiveness. It also helps in improving academic programs quality
and effectiveness. Furthermore, it can create the platform for cooperation among academic programs at different universities to work
jointly to improve the programs quality.

In view of this, this document is produced to assist the setting of the exit examinations for all programs, which is being delivered by
Ministry of Education. To meet the graduation profile, competency and learning outcome, exit exam competency selection and
identifying core course was done for 2015 EC graduating students. As a result, preparing test blueprint is necessary to prepare fairly
distributed items based on the above criteria.
Finally, we recommend all concerned bodies to contribute their effort for the successful implementation of the National Exit Exam.

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