Evaluating student confidence in engineering design, teamwork and communication

Many researchers have focused on the role of confidence and motivation on learning and have suggested that students be encouraged to engage in reflection about the role of their self-perceptions in achievement. In this paper we explore how students' confidence levels change during our freshman engineering design program. During the 2003-2004 academic year we implemented a survey designed to measure students' confidence in design problem-solving abilities and associated teamwork and communication skills in Northwestern University's first year Engineering Design and Communication (EDC) course. Analyses of the survey data show significant gains in students' confidence to apply specific design, communication, and teamwork skills. Results from our study provide valuable information about our students, and one perspective for evaluating the effectiveness of design-focused learning environments.