Tools for Assessing Student Learning in Mechanical Design Courses

Assessing student learning and evaluating the effects of innovation in teaching remain a challenge for design educators and researchers. This paper describes the development of a set of assessment tools for use in evaluating pedagogical improvements in project-based mechanical design courses. An ethnographic study was undertaken to identify the design concepts and skills that students struggle to learn or apply. Four categories of concepts were identified as difficult for students: problem definition, evaluation of concepts, communication and comprehension, and prototyping strategies. In order to support interventions to improve students’ learning in these areas, an assessment tool was designed and pilot tested with expert and novice participants. The results from this test will be used to develop an inventory of questions that can be used by educators and researchers to monitor student learning in mechanical design courses, and evaluate the efficacy of new teaching methods and tools.