WIP: Rewriting Capstone: The Unexpected Solution to Our Assessment Problem

Janice Mejía; Katherine Scharfenberg; Jill Hardin Wilson

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Industrial Engineering Division (IND) Technical Session 2
Tagged Division: Industrial Engineering Division (IND)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48315

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Paper Authors

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Janice Mejía Northwestern University orcid.org/0000-0002-7913-3011

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Dr. Mejía is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences. She also teaches in the Design Thinking and Communication (DTC), Masters in Engineering Management (MEM), and College Prep programs. Her research interests focus on mixed methods research in engineering education, curriculum assessment and development, and engineering identity. Prior to teaching at Northwestern, she worked in for-profit and non-profit sectors to optimize technologies, processes, and policies in organizations.

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Katherine Scharfenberg Northwestern University

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Jill Hardin Wilson Northwestern University orcid.org/0000-0002-5489-034X

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Abstract

Industrial engineering capstone courses provide students the opportunity to apply the technical tools they learn in their major classes to a real-world project. To effectively demonstrate understanding of learning objectives, students must communicate clearly to a wide range of audiences, including instructors, other team members, and the project client. Full assessment of learning objectives may require engineering professors teaching capstone courses to spend considerable time evaluating student writing. Varied teaching tools and methods to convey the importance of communication in professional environments may also be incorporated to enhance student learning. Clear communication within an engineering capstone course is important for students and engineering instructors.  

The work in progress describes an effort to improve communication and assessment of student learning in an industrial engineering capstone course. To better assess learning objectives, several changes were made to the curriculum over a four-year period. The changes include the development of a course guide, updated rubrics, project charter discussions, teamwork assessments, midterm check-ins, and the experimentation with different final presentation formats. Despite these changes, assessment of student learning outcomes remained elusive as most of their analysis and understanding was conveyed through written deliverables. For teams that struggled with written communication, we could never quite understand their work, let alone whether they were doing it well. In 2023, a writing instructor was integrated into the class to help students better communicate their understanding of the problem, methods, and solutions. The contribution of the writing instructor has addressed several of the communication challenges that other innovations were attempting to solve. Moreover, and to our surprise, our assessment issues began to improve. Preliminary results indicate that the addition of formative assessments have helped students better communicate the problem and solution to a wider audience in their project deliverables. A revised instructional model is presented, along with future evaluation plans.

Citation
Format

Mejía, J., & Scharfenberg, K., & Wilson, J. H. (2024, June), WIP: Rewriting Capstone: The Unexpected Solution to Our Assessment Problem Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48315

TY - CPAPER
AB - Industrial engineering capstone courses provide students the opportunity to apply the technical tools they learn in their major classes to a real-world project. To effectively demonstrate understanding of learning objectives, students must communicate clearly to a wide range of audiences, including instructors, other team members, and the project client. Full assessment of learning objectives may require engineering professors teaching capstone courses to spend considerable time evaluating student writing. Varied teaching tools and methods to convey the importance of communication in professional environments may also be incorporated to enhance student learning. Clear communication within an engineering capstone course is important for students and engineering instructors.

The work in progress describes an effort to improve communication and assessment of student learning in an industrial engineering capstone course. To better assess learning objectives, several changes were made to the curriculum over a four-year period. The changes include the development of a course guide, updated rubrics, project charter discussions, teamwork assessments, midterm check-ins, and the experimentation with different final presentation formats. Despite these changes, assessment of student learning outcomes remained elusive as most of their analysis and understanding was conveyed through written deliverables. For teams that struggled with written communication, we could never quite understand their work, let alone whether they were doing it well. In 2023, a writing instructor was integrated into the class to help students better communicate their understanding of the problem, methods, and solutions. The contribution of the writing instructor has addressed several of the communication challenges that other innovations were attempting to solve. Moreover, and to our surprise, our assessment issues began to improve. Preliminary results indicate that the addition of formative assessments have helped students better communicate the problem and solution to a wider audience in their project deliverables. A revised instructional model is presented, along with future evaluation plans.

AU - Janice Mejía
AU - Katherine Scharfenberg
AU - Jill Hardin Wilson
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - WIP: Rewriting Capstone: The Unexpected Solution to Our Assessment Problem
UR - https://peer.asee.org/48315
ER -