An Assessment Approach to Project-Based Service Learning

Strategies for assessment are important to engineer ing ducators and researchers as they evaluate the quality of student learning in courses and othe r experiences. Assessment can be particularly challenging in project-based service-learning (PBSL ) experiences because the types of learning do not lend themselves to traditional modes of asse ssm nt, such as tests or quizzes. This paper describes a strategy of assessing a broad set of sk ills in EPICS, a well-established and recognized PBSL program where students earn academic credit fo r their work on community-based designs. Although the assessments presented are specific to a particular program, we present them here with sufficient detail and underlying objectives so that they can be adapted to other courses and programs as appropriate. Assessments discussed inc lu e individual learning, team and project assessments and programmatic assessments including alumni surveys.