Designing collaborative problem solving assessment tasks in engineering: an evaluative judgement perspective

Abstract

This paper argues that development of students’ evaluative judgement capability, which encapsulates a range of cognitive and social skills, should be considered as a primary objective of the collaborative problem-solving assessment practices in engineering. This is a response to call for preparing job-ready students. To meet the multiple demands of complex, agile and innovative projects in the world of work, engineering graduates need to draw on their own decision-making ability and make informed judgements in various collaborative problem-solving situations. However, a review of literature shows that there is a lack of a robust model on which assessment designers can rely as a guidance to develop collaborative problem-solving assessment activities that might progressively contribute to the development of this much-needed capability. By conceptualising the concept of evaluative judgement and identifying the elements of collaborative problem-solving that can foster it, the paper concludes by proposing a stage-based model for designing and implementing assessment activities at the individual course level.