Assessing Design Ability through a Quantitative Analysis of the Design Process

Current educational practices presume engineering students develop design skills through dedicated design courses and projects. There are many variations in how the courses and projects are implemented, causing disagreement between educators on the most effective methods. Few assessment tools exist to evaluate these claims, and no quantitative tools were found that provide students with an immediate formative evaluation of their design ability. We created an online, quantitative design ability assessment tool to compare the design approaches of students to experienced engineers. This article explores whether design ability can be assessed quantitatively through this tool. Significant findings include the following. Experienced engineers use fewer steps than students and estimate the project would require more time than both student groups. First-year students use extraneous steps, produce the wrong product, are least likely to iterate, and exceed the target number of hours. Second- through fourth-year students utilized the most time in developing alternative solutions and demonstrated design knowledge gained from previous experience. Because these findings align with the literature, we conclude that aspects of design ability can be assessed using a quantitative tool, which provides students with formative design development and educators with quantitative feedback on variations in their project or course.