Using multiple methods to evaluate a freshmen design course

ENGR 100 is a hands-on, team-based freshmen design course in which students engage in design activities, learn about the field of engineering, and develop an understanding of what kinds of skills and knowledge are necessary to pursue a career in engineering. The learning that results from these kinds of authentic tasks is not easy to assess with traditional tests or a single assessment method. To evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching methods and course content, we created an evaluation plan that utilized triangulation of data through multiple methods. Triangulation is not just a tactic to establish validity and credibility of findings, it is a robust mode of inquiry that provides opportunities to view complementary and contrasting data. The authors present an in-depth description of our evaluation plan. This includes a description of the planning and administration of the assessment tasks, the selection of assessment methods and development of instruments, and how the plan triangulated data across assessment methodologies.