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Measuring Added-Value Using a Team Design Skills Growth Survey

Kenneth Gentili, Jim Lyons,/ Eric Davishahl,/ Denny Davis,/ Steven Beyerlein Tacoma Community College,/ Everett Community College,/ Washington State University,/ University of Idaho

Abstract

Assessing student learning in design courses is essential for giving them feedback on their integration of a wide range of knowledge and skills. This paper describes the Team Design Skills Growth Survey, which is easy to administer and interpret in discerning design capabilities of students in introductory engineering design classes. This tool measures student perceptions about their professional growth and correlates these with perceived course emphasis on learning outcomes for design skills, teamwork skills, and communication skills endorsed by the Washington Council for Engineering and Related Technology Education (WCERTE).

Several versions of the Team Design Skills Growth Survey have been used over the last ten years in sections of an introductory engineering design course at Tacoma Community College. Results generated from the survey are consistent with pre- and post-testing, verbal protocol analysis, team interviews, and a variety of reflective writing assignments. Results include an analysis of the difference between the means for class-averaged growth and class-averaged emphasis in each of the WCERTE outcome areas.

For students, the greatest impact of using this tool is increasing their understanding of their learning with respect to the intended learning outcomes. As such, the Team Design Skills Growth Survey can support efforts to increase students’ self-confidence in engineering, leading to better retention of engineering students. For faculty, the greatest impact of using this tool is measuring the value-added of different activities in introductory engineering design classes, which can be used to improve course design, provide insight to class management issues, and determine the appropriateness of performance indicators. This paper also addresses best practices for implementing and expanding the Team Design Skills Growth Survey and extending it to other disciplines.

Introduction

The assessment tool described in this paper is designed to assess students’ development of skills in and knowledge of the engineering design process when enrolled in an introductory engineering design course. (See Appendix for the complete version of the “Team Design Skills Growth Survey.”) It expands the use of surveys into a new dimension that can be used to Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Beyerlein, S., & Davishahl, E., & Davis, D., & Lyons, J., & Gentili, K. (2005, June), Measuring Added Value Using A Team Design Skills Growth Survey Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15437