Student assessment in team project-based learning: Challenges and experiences

The final year of the Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering agree at RMIT University includes a capstone erospace design project involving student teams working together to develop a concept solution to a gven requirement. Project-based learning (PBL) is an important part of engineering education where student teams work together to achieve a common objective and acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. In industry, engineering projects are a collaborative effort of a team of professional engineers, managers, regulators, finance officers, etc. and by replicating this environment in education students learn how to work with fellow students, who have different skills, abilities, motivation, enthusiasm, work ethics and drive, to solve a real-world problem. Although it is generally accepted that this experience is very valuable in preparing students for the workplace, the challenge from a course coordinator's perspective is how to manage these groups and how to determine a transparent and fair assessment scheme. This paper introduces some of the challenges of individual student assessment in group projects and will give an overview of some of the techniques applied in tertiary education, supported by the experiences at RMIT University with the capstone aircraft design project.