Assessing individuals within teams in project-based learning courses — Strategies, evaluation and lessons learnt

摘要

Teamwork is an important professional skill for engineers. To ensure that skills like teamwork are a key focus a series of project-based learning courses were introduced throughout the Bachelor of Engineering programme at Massey University. These project-based courses start in first year and continue each year until the final year where they complete a capstone design project. One difficulty identified was how to effectively assess an individual’s contribution to a team-based assessment. This paper reports on the strategies used, evaluation of our approach and a reflection on lessons learnt after 5 years of team-based assessment. An example of the strategies used in a first-year course is given as a case study. Data was gathered from final year students over a three-year period to assess their opinions on teamwork and assessment within project-based learning courses. Students reported both positive and negative aspects of working in teams. Over the 3-year period being studied, the number of negative impacts reduced. This may be due to changes to the courses and/or staff becoming more effective facilitators. Half the students felt peer evaluation fairly distributed grades and half felt it did not. The most frequent comment was that marks were not adjusted enough. Success of individual teams often relies on a combination of careful course design, monitoring by staff, early intervention when needed and creating an environment where students feel they can ask for advice.