Measuring Added Value Using A Team Design Skills Growth Survey

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.

Developing a Framework for Blended Design-Based Learning in a First-Year Multidisciplinary Design Course

“…To evaluate students' design competencies and their motivations in engineering, two surveys were adapted and administered to students before and after the course in each offering. A 22-item design competencies perceptions survey was modified from the Team Design Skills Growth Survey [33], designed by Gentili and colleagues to measure the design capabilities of students in introductory engineering design classes. In it, design competencies were identified as the demonstratable characteristics of the engineering design process, teamwork, and communication [33].…”

“…A 22-item design competencies perceptions survey was modified from the Team Design Skills Growth Survey [33], designed by Gentili and colleagues to measure the design capabilities of students in introductory engineering design classes. In it, design competencies were identified as the demonstratable characteristics of the engineering design process, teamwork, and communication [33]. For the survey on motivations in engineering, 13 items were adapted from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory by Ryan [34].…”