Assessment and Evaluation Practices in Engineering Education: A Global Perspective

Abstract

Assessment' and 'evaluation' are the integral parts of the engineering curriculum. These components have direct relevance to quality assurance in engineering education. Literature suggests that better assessment and evaluation practices require certain knowledge and skills about types and methods of assessment and evaluation. It is found that most of the engineering faculty members do not have concrete knowledge about 'assessment' and 'evaluation' types and methods. Further, it is argued that engineering educators are not well aware of 'feedback comments' that are associated with assessment practices. Comments on students' performances are essential because it helps them to know their strengths and weaknesses of a course. In this background, the paper critically analyses assessment and evaluation practices in engineering education setup across the globe. In particular, it discusses the challenges faced by engineering faculty members while assessing students' performances. Finally, the paper offers suggestions to improve assessment and evaluation practices so that students doing engineering programs will be largely benefited.

Learning through Assessment and Feedback Practices: A Critical Review of Engineering Education Settings

“…Assessment, therefore, stimulates learning in multiple ways. It encourages and motivates students to learn the subject contents, helps them to identify their strengths and weaknesses of a course, and supplies information to plan what they need to do next (Subheesh & Sethy, 2018;Yorke, 2008). However, as assessment and feedback evolve from time to time along with the course curriculum, instructional design, and course objectives; there are many challenges lie in assessment practices.…”

“…According to Suskie (2010), establishing clear, measurable expected outcomes of student learning must be the aim of good assessment practice. Literature pertaining to engineering education conveys that engineering faculty members are not getting adequate research guidance on how to develop the instructional design of a course and establish measurable learning outcomes (Burtner, 2000;Palmer, 2004;Rompelman, 2000;Sethy, 2018). They are prone to commit an error while designing instruction of a course.…”

“…With regard to engineering education settings across the globe, it can also be observed that engineering faculty members need not go through teacher-training programmes or certification programmes to teach engineering students (Bhattacharya, 2004;Palmer, 2004;Subheesh & Sethy, 2018). This may result in causing difficulties to them to develop appropriate assessment tools and techniques of a course.…”

“…Even though there are many definitions available for 'assessment', this article subscribes to the following definition in the engineering education context. That is, 'assessment' is judging engineering students' performance by awarding them score/mark about the quality and extent of their achievements and providing qualitative feedback that helps them to shape their learning to become engineering professionals (Sethy, 2018;Subheesh & Sethy, 2018).…”

“…According to Cruz et al (2019), engineering students are supposed to attain an ability to work as competent team members in an interdisciplinary collaborative environment. Eventually, students are expected to get hold of engineering practices to evolve as engineering professionals (Lal et al, 2017;Subheesh & Sethy, 2018). Assessment and feedback practices can continuously monitor and improve engineering students' progress in all these requirements.…”