EXPERIENCES OF USING A SINGLE ASSESSMENT FOR BOTH PRACTICAL PROTOTYPING SKILLS AND INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY ENGINEERING

Abstract

Engineering students are often faced with many assessment points during a semester. One of the more common assessments in an engineering programme are group-based, design and build projects. These projects often require a disproportionate amount of time due to coordination between members and resources for acquiring materials. This study relates an attempt to reduce this burden by utilising a common project as an assessment point for two separate courses: Practical Prototyping Skills and Introduction to Energy Engineering. The challenges faced by instructors in creating a project that would adequately address their individual learning outcomes are presented, along with the students’ perspective on this approach. Student surveys indicated that there was a clear understanding of how the project related to both courses and that they had sufficient support for the project, while lecturers highlighted several positive outcomes such as more student emphasis on the project, a higher standard of project and collegial support in the design and administration of the project.