A Work-in-Progress Study: Exploring Performance-Based Assessment in an Interdisciplinary Projects Program

Abdulrahman Alsharif; Lisa D. McNair; Mark Vincent Huerta; David Gray; Yi Cao

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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: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Technical Session 5
Tagged Division: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46510

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Paper Authors

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Abdulrahman Alsharif Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Abdulrahman Alsharif is a research assistant for the Engineering Education Department and a PhD candidate at Virginia Tech.

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Lisa D. McNair Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0001-6654-2337

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Lisa D. McNair is a Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she also serves as Deputy Executive Director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT).

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Mark Vincent Huerta Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0003-2962-0724

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Mark Huerta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. He earned his PhD in Engineering Education Systems & Design at Arizona State University and has a BS/MS in Biomedical Engineering. His research focuses on exploring and understanding engineering learning environments. He harnesses these insights to propose solutions that encourage the creation of safe and inclusive educational environments conducive to learning, professional development, and innovation. His research interests include graduate student mentorship, faculty development, mental health and well-being, teamwork and group dynamics, and the design of project-based learning classes.

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David Gray Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0003-0159-9150

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Dr. Gray receieved his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2000. He then earned a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2002 and 2010, respectively. Much of his graduate education focus

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Yi Cao Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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CAO Yi is a third-year Ph.D. Candidate at Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Education, under the guidance of Dr. Jennifer Case and Dr. Qin Zhu. She is interested in integrating the arts and engineering to foster compassion, diversity, justice, democracy, and peace in a global context. Her research interest broadly covers international comparative research on innovation, teaching, and learning in engineering education.
Her primary research methodology is qualitative, drawing heavily on interviews, focus groups, and narrative techniques. She is also adept in mixed-method approaches and quantitative methods, including NLP progress and data clustering.

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Abstract

With the increasing emphasis on project-based learning (PBL) and providing students with multidisciplinary teamwork experiences in engineering education, Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) programs have become an integral part of curricula at many universities. These VIP programs enable engineering students to collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to design solutions for real-world projects involving stakeholders over multiple semesters. Although there are multiple advantages of VIP programs, their unique and flexible structure raises questions about effective assessment practices that capture the professional and engineering design skills students are expected to further develop in these programs. Performance-based assessment (PBA), defined as an assessment method that evaluates students' ability to apply classroom learning to real-world problems, provides a suitable approach to assessment in VIP programs involving PBL. Grounded in the principles of evaluating participants through projects, presentations, and real-world tasks, PBA measures not just outcomes, but also processes, teamwork, and individual contributions.

However, such approaches to evaluating student performance face challenges in undergraduate contexts where students are accustomed to frequent quantitative grading. These challenges are further complicated in interdisciplinary contexts where students and instructors bring differing methods and priorities to their work. This exploratory qualitative study seeks to understand students' perceptions of PBA and focuses on the research question: How do undergraduate students perceive and experience the use of PBA in an interdisciplinary project-based learning course? Participants for this study are students who have completed a semester in the Interdisciplinary Projects (IDPro) program, where students work on multi-semester client-based projects. Student participants’ majors include several engineering disciplines (Aerospace, biomedical, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer engineering, Mechanical, and general engineering) as well as Chemistry, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, Psychology, and Sociology. Data collection involves student responses to a post-class survey with open-ended questions about their assessment experiences, followed by a focus group to deepen insights. The data will be systematically coded, categorized, and examined using thematic analysis to determine patterns and themes. This work-in-progress study examines students’ perceptions of PBA in an interdisciplinary project environment.

Citation
Format

Alsharif, A., & McNair, L. D., & Huerta, M. V., & Gray, D., & Cao, Y. (2024, June), A Work-in-Progress Study: Exploring Performance-Based Assessment in an Interdisciplinary Projects Program Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46510

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - With the increasing emphasis on project-based learning (PBL) and providing students with multidisciplinary teamwork experiences in engineering education, Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) programs have become an integral part of curricula at many universities. These VIP programs enable engineering students to collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to design solutions for real-world projects involving stakeholders over multiple semesters. Although there are multiple advantages of VIP programs, their unique and flexible structure raises questions about effective assessment practices that capture the professional and engineering design skills students are expected to further develop in these programs. Performance-based assessment (PBA), defined as an assessment method that evaluates students&#39; ability to apply classroom learning to real-world problems, provides a suitable approach to assessment in VIP programs involving PBL. Grounded in the principles of evaluating participants through projects, presentations, and real-world tasks, PBA measures not just outcomes, but also processes, teamwork, and individual contributions.

However, such approaches to evaluating student performance face challenges in undergraduate contexts where students are accustomed to frequent quantitative grading. These challenges are further complicated in interdisciplinary contexts where students and instructors bring differing methods and priorities to their work. This exploratory qualitative study seeks to understand students&#39; perceptions of PBA and focuses on the research question:  How do undergraduate students perceive and experience the use of PBA in an interdisciplinary project-based learning course? Participants for this study are students who have completed a semester in the Interdisciplinary Projects (IDPro) program, where students work on multi-semester client-based projects. Student participants’ majors include several engineering disciplines (Aerospace, biomedical, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer engineering, Mechanical, and general engineering) as well as Chemistry, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, Psychology, and Sociology. Data collection involves student responses to a post-class survey with open-ended questions about their assessment experiences, followed by a focus group to deepen insights. The data will be systematically coded, categorized, and examined using thematic analysis to determine patterns and themes. This work-in-progress study examines students’ perceptions of PBA in an interdisciplinary project environment.

AU  - Abdulrahman Alsharif
AU  - Lisa D. McNair
AU  - Mark Vincent Huerta
AU  - David Gray
AU  - Yi Cao
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - A Work-in-Progress Study: Exploring Performance-Based Assessment in an Interdisciplinary Projects Program
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46510
ER  -