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Investigating student and faculty perceptions of a new assessment system for Project-Based Learning

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

LEES 7: Experiments in Experiential and Project-Based Learning

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--41072

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/41072

Download Count

296

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Paper Authors

biography

Yi Cao

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CAO Yi is a Ph.D. student at the Department of engineering education at Virginia Tech under the guidance of Dr. Jennifer M. Case. She had been worked also as a research assistant at the International Center for Higher Education Innovation(ICHEI), a UNESCO Category 2 Center situated in Shenzhen, China, on the premise of the Southern University of Science and Technology for two years.

With Yi's bachelor's degree in Standardization of Engineering and master of Higher education, she has been inspired to focus on International engineering education research. Her research interest broadly covers comparative education quality and engineering education innovation. Topics she is currently working on include Student assessment in project-based learning, General Curricula for students of Science and Technology(empirical case study), Standards of Engineering Education Accreditation(ABET), and the International Collaboration of Scholars in Graduate Education.

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Jennifer Case Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Jennifer Case is Professor and Head of the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech in the USA. Prior to her appointment in this post she was a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, where she retains an honorary appointment. She completed postgraduate studies in the UK, Australia and South Africa. With more than two decades of undergraduate teaching and curriculum reform work, she is a well-regarded researcher in engineering education and higher education. Her work especially on the student experience of learning as well as on topics around teaching and curriculum, has been widely published. She was a founding member of the Centre for Engineering Education (CREE) and served twice as its Director, as well as being the founding president of the South African Society for Engineering Education (SASEE). She is a joint editor-in-chief for the international journal Higher Education.

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Jingshen Wu

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Bingzhuo Liang

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Abstract

Project-Based Learning (PjBL) is an approach to designing curricula through inductive learning methods and typically utilizes active learning pedagogies. This study investigates the experiences of students and faculty at a new engineering school in China that had adopted the PjBL approach and created a new assessment system, which it terms the Comprehensive Ability Assessment Radar Map. This assessment system focuses on students' weekly reflective submissions during the project and involves instructors' evaluation of students' knowledge and motivation, communication, practical skills, thinking skills, responsibility, and project execution. This paper reports a qualitative interview-based case study investigating student and faculty perceptions of the new assessment system. We interviewed ten students (out of a class of 33) and six faculty (all PjBL instructors) about their perceptions of the assessment system. The analysis of the student interviews showed their concerns about the turnaround time of weekly assessments and the quality and objectivity of the feedback. The study of the faculty interviews captured the debate about the weighting of the items in the assessment system. However, it also supported the model that progressively de-emphasizes knowledge acquisition compared to professional skills. Concerning the assessment itself, faculty were divided on whether objective or subjective evaluations are desirable and on the feedback interval.

Cao, Y., & Case, J., & Wu, J., & Liang, B. (2022, August), Investigating student and faculty perceptions of a new assessment system for Project-Based Learning Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41072

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