Group Project Work in Engineering Design - Learning Goals and their Assessment

This paper describes comprehensive marking criteria, which have been developed over a number of years, for the assessment of an innovative undergraduate course in engineering design. The course assessment is based almost entirely on group project work. A strong emphasis is placed on oral and visual communication skills during the first semester, which are complemented by a concentration on more technical engineering design material in the second semester. The paper begins with a description of why the course was developed and how it fits within a conventionally taught and examined undergraduate degree programme in Industrial Engineering and Information Systems. This initial descriptive material is followed by a discussion of the learning goals of each element of the course and details of the marking criteria adopted. Finally, there is a critical review of the assessment methods used.