Developing Engineering Students Writing Competence: An Intervention Based on Formative and Peer Assessment

Abstract

The ability to communicate is recognised as an important undergraduate engineering competence. While acknowledging its importance, employers often express dissatisfaction with engineering graduates ability to communicate. In one course that the author teachers, learners are asked to document project outcomes via an engineering-style conference paper. Over the years, many learners consistently struggle to write high quality abstracts, introductions, conclusions and to apply referencing conventions appropriately. This year the author designed and implemented a writing intervention, based on formative and peer-assessment, to address this issue. This article explore the impact of this intervention. Impact was evaluated by comparing writing artifacts produced in this academic year with artifacts produced in two other years prior to the intervention. The results indicate that the intervention was impactful with the quality of these elements improving from an average score of 35% (2017 & 2018) to 70% this academic year. An implication is that specific, targeted supports are likely to be more impactful than repeated practice – especially when practice is not supported with feedback. More generally, the article adds to the extensive literature evidencing the impact of formative assessment on student learning.