Assessing Design And Reflective Practice In Capstone Engineering Design Courses
Denny Davis, Steven Beyerlein, Phillip Thompson, Jay McCormack, Olakunle Harrison, Michael S. Trevisan, Robert Gerlick, Susannah Howe
Abstract
Engineering practitioners in the twenty-first century face complex challenges with social, political, environmental, ethical, and resource-limiting constraints. They work with diverse constituencies to solve rapidly-changing, complex problems. To be productive and responsive in this environment, engineering professionals must create innovative yet practical and responsible solutions that benefit society. As Schn (1983) argues, engineers will need to practice reflectionin-action (learning and adjusting as they perform) as well as reflection-on-action (intermittent analysis of conditions that leads to major advances). As agents of change, they continuously ask questions, make judgments, learn, and choose appropriate actions. Engineers must be competent, reflective practitioners if they are to contribute effectively in a dynamic global environment. This paper describes a set of fifteen assessments for four areas of performance in capstone engineering design courses: professional development, teamwork, design processes, and solution assets. First, it presents the research foundation and structure for making the assessments useful for both guiding student achievement and measuring achievement in the context of team-based design projects. Next, the activities for each assessment are summarized along with factors for scoring performances. Finally, the paper describes how the assessments prompt students' reflection on design activities and how student reflections might be used to assess reflective practice occurring in design activities.