Assessment of CDIO Skills for Student Final Year (Capstone) Projects of Different Genres

Part of the curriculum revamp effort for the Diploma in Chemical Engineering offered at the Singapore Polytechnic is to use the CDIO framework as the basis to introduce chemical product design to our students. Our curriculum requires students to complete a 30-week capstone project work in their third (and final) year of study. Students completed a variety of projects, which can vary greatly from fundamental research to pilot plant operation; reflecting the multiple initiatives that the polytechnic as a whole is pursuing, including strengthening industrial links and promoting creativity, innovation and enterprising spirits among students. This diversity presents a challenge to the existing one-size-fits-all assessment scheme to provide a fair evaluation of the students’ work. 

This paper explores the challenges faced in executing final year projects (FYPs) in the Diploma in Chemical Engineering, and discusses the approach taken to address them. It first briefly traces the nature and evolution of FYP execution, and explains the rationales for introducing projects of different genres. Detailed study of FYP assessment system vis-à-vis the CDIO framework is carried out. While several skills such as teamwork and communication, as well as personal skills and attributes etc can be common assessment components, in the context of our students’ FYPs the same cannot be said of skills such as Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating Systems in the Enterprise and Societal Context. This paper then discusses the review of FYPs from three different genres, namely research, engineering and multimedia; and explores the feasibility of assessing CDIO skills. We argued that while this is plausible, it is necessary to customize the assessment tools, which posed several execution and administrative challenges. 

Lastly, this paper presents the assessment tools specific to the different project genres. Results from a trial run using these assessment tools in parallel with the existing assessment tool was carried out and the feedback of the assessors were discussed. The paper concludes with valuable lessons learnt.