The Development of Competencies in a Design Course from a Student Perspective

A structured approach using surveys was implemented within the boundaries of an undergraduate design course to track progressively the changing student self-perceptions of competence during a semester long design activity. Using self-evaluation, the students were asked to reflect and articulate upon their own competency levels while being led through an ill structured system design, build and test experience. The subject course sits in the final year of a mechanical engineering undergraduate degree and has its focus on learning the principles of design in the context of the project which is a precursor to undertaking an industry sponsored capstone project. The hypothesis was that students would recognize their competencies developing through team-based and self-learning activities. The desire to understand students’ awareness of their own learning and development is foundational / fundamental. Hence, the research questions are: (i) How do students perceive their competence while executing a design project? and, (ii) How does the perception of a set of competencies develop in design courses? Presented in the paper is a list of competencies targeted for the course, a description of the course and a summary of some of the survey findings. Through better understanding and calibrating student perspectives, it follows that course design can be modified to better achieve course goals a growth in competence. It was observed that students have emphatically shown that they have perceived increases in their competency level in a course but that they build their perceptions in phases: (i) an initial estimation based on performance in prior courses, (ii) calibration of their perceptions (often down) through the early formative feedback in the subject course and (iii) recovery and increase in perceived competence through greater awareness, reflection and experience.