Considering the Effectiveness of Comprehensive Assessment and the Impact of PBL Implementation in a Concrete Industry Project Management Course

The objectives of this study were two-fold: first, to assess the effectiveness of using Project Based Learning (PrBL) pedagogy and second, to determine the efficacy of a comprehensive set of assessment methods from the standpoint of assessing learning in a PrBL implementation. The project used in this study incorporates actual, in-the-field projects that represent real-life scenarios that the students will encounter once they graduate. Various direct assessment methods were implemented in this study. These assessment methods included a pre and post questionnaire of student beliefs and opinions, homework grades, in-class ‘clicker’ quiz grades, overall project grades, embedded test question grades, a video lecture project, and short answer case study questions on exams. The data sets collected with these assessment methods were compared to data taken from the past two offerings of the same course and with data from a similar course taught by the same professor in the same department. The analysis reshowed that the students favored both the actual concrete construction project and the milestone deliverable method. The particular assessment methods that provided the most feedback were the embedded test questions and the case study section of the exam. Since students had to work with an individual real-world case study on the exam, the individual student’s effort, understanding, and ability to solve technical problems from the milestone project were quantified through the exam. The overall grade assessment method revealed an average of 4.5 percentage point increase in grades from past offerings of the course and a similar course that does not include the PrBL pedagogy.