Enhancing Critical Thinking in Engineering by Incorporating an E-assignment and Peer Review in a Blended Learning Course

This Innovative Practice Category Work in Progress Paper presents the design and implementation of an online writing assignment as a critical component to the blended learning approach in designing a Power System Course to enhance student learning and pique their interest. The learner needs to stay abreast with current technologies and methodologies used in the industry to be relevant in these fields. It was decided to incorporate an assignment into the module assessment strategy that would be on delivering a write-up on the current relevant topics in Energy and Power Systems. The blended learning nature of the module resulted in the choice of the online platform as the medium of delivery of the assignment. Firstly, the learner needed to read and critically analyze multiple technical reports to write this report. A through rubric was developed to ensure that students had guidelines on how to write the report. The rubric included the use of language and assigned a percentage of the grade to it. Secondly, to ensure that he/she is being authentic and ethical to the source, the write up was checked for plagiarism using the Turnitin Platform. This was also to encourage independent thinking amongst students. Finally, peer review was used as a methodology for evaluation for students to enable them to critically analyze their classmate's report on these topics. This ensured their exposure to engineering writing and that they could eloquently express themselves. These topics were also discussed in the face-to-face session to ensure that students understood their significance in the practical real-world scenario. This paper describes the design and implementation of the e-assignment and the peer review system and presents both quantitative and qualitative assessment results.