Assessment of Design Competencies by a Five Level Model of Expertise
Year: 2012
Editor: Lyndon Buck, Geert Frateur, William Ion, Chris McMahon, Chris Baelus, Guido De Grande, Stijn Verwulgen
Author: Albers, Albert; Turki, Tarak; Lohmeyer, Quentin
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
Section: Assessment
Page(s): 305-310
ISBN: 978-1-904670-36-0
Abstract
In recent years, enabling competencies has become more and more relevant in design education and design practice. Various problem-orientated and project-based learning approaches allow students to develop their key competencies. However, difficulties in assessing these competencies are rarely discussed. This paper presents a case study that analyses the appropriateness of a five level model of expertise to assess design competencies. The study includes a combination of document analysis and open interviews with undergraduate mechanical engineering students. The document analysis is based on engineering detail drawings that were designed by students within their exam on mechanical design. The following aspects of expertise are analyzed: (1) treatment of knowledge (without reference to context or in context), (2) recognition of relevance (not present or present), (3) assessment of context (analytic or holistic) and (4) making of decision (rational or intuitive). By application of this evaluation scheme central results of the study are presented and discussed.
Keywords: Assessment, competencies, expertise, experience