Assessing Student Team Performance in Industry Sponsored Design Projects

Although cooperative learning in a team setting is a common approach for integrating problem-based learning into undergraduate science and engineering, standard assessment tools do not exists to evaluate learning outcomes. As a result, novel techniques need to be developed to assess learning in team-based design projects. This paper describes the experiences and lessons learned in assessing student performance in team-based, project courses culminating in a senior capstone experience that integrates industry-sponsored design projects. A set of rubrics linked to the instructional objectives was developed that define and communicate expectations during each of three project phases. Rubrics for each phase incorporate three fundamental areas of team performance assessment: (i) synthesis of a valid concept; (ii) management of resources; and (iii) interpersonal interaction and communication. At the end of each phase, both the faculty and industry sponsor use the same rubric to assess student team performance. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the assessment data collected over the last 5 years indicated that student performance, measured by faculty grades and industry sponsor evaluations, was not significantly affected by the faculty advisor, project type, or sponsoring company size. These results are attributed primarily to the faculty focusing more on assessing student performance in executing the design process and less on the actual project results. The analysis also revealed that faculty assessments of student performance did not correlate very well with industry sponsor assessments. To address this, a revised set of evaluation rubrics were developed and are currently being used to better articulate expectations from both faculty and industrial sponsor perspectives.