Frammistöðumat á umfangsmiklum nemendateymum

Abstract

A methodology has been developed aimed at helping teachers to evaluate the performance of extensive student teams in engineering courses. The paper demonstrates the methodology with a case study. The case is a project course that has been taught at the University of Iceland for 10 years. In the course, students design a one-seater electric race car, build it and compete in it at foreign competitions. The aim of the course each year is the same - to improve the last design. The students' performance - judged on the points received in the competitions - has been nearly the same all these years. Attempts by teachers to help the students to improve their performance have not been successful. The results show that by applying the methodology developed by the authors, teachers can get a good overview of the factors that affect students' performance and gain a good understanding of what possibly hinders progress. The methodology is a powerful tool that is easy to use to systematically analyse student performance and identify problems. The user must evaluate each factor and give a rating with arguments. This systematic approach provides a good understanding of the workings of the team, it helps to see where the problems lie and helps to decide which aspects need to be examined further. Although the methodology has been designed to evaluate student teams, all indications are that it could be useful for evaluating the performance of other teams – e.g. in industry.