Engineering Design Survey

Abstract

Design is one of twelve graduate attributesthat needs to be assessed as part of the accreditationprocess for engineering programs in Canada, as requiredby the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board(CEAB). However, assessment of design competence is acomplex task due to the fact design process is non-linearand depends on many factors including communicationskills, teamwork skills, individual knowledge and skills,and project complexity. This study aims to captureundergraduate students’ design and teamwork skills andthe challenges they face in their design projects. To thisend, a low-cost assessment tool which can beimplemented and analyzed relatively fast is presented.The tool is a new survey which assesses students’ selfreportedintentions and skills for four key dimensions ofteam-based engineering design: (a) design process, (b)design communication, (c) teamwork, (d) regulation ofteamwork. The survey was administered to the first yearstudents enrolled in “Design and Communication I” aftercompletion of a final design project. In this paper, thesurvey development and key findings from the collecteddata are discussed in detail.