2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Developing an objective evaluation rubric de-coupled from assessment feedback has historically been underutilized in civil engineering classrooms. As pedagogical methods continue to evolve towards project-based and open-ended experiences, opportunities to engage students in the iterative revision process are becoming increasingly advantageous. Many professors rely on grading systems focused primarily on evaluative criteria, resulting in scores which are used to determine course letter grades. Students may accept the feedback offered in graded assignments or solution keys, but engagement is less focused on improvement for the immediate learning value. Especially in writing assignments, students can become discouraged by lower grades and may not be receptive to reviewer feedback which can feel like a personal, subjective attack. While some forms of evaluation include elements of assessment, this document argues de-coupling provides students with additional opportunity to develop and demonstrate understanding without the pressure of grade-related summative judgement. A dual-purpose rubric was designed for a technical writing assignment to allow for a simultaneous evaluation and assessment experience. Applying the de-coupled design to graded assignments is hypothesized to improve students’ perceptions of the iterative revision process common to the civil engineering discipline and induce a growth mindset in students as they receive professor feedback for implementation in later assignments. The fundamentals applied in developing the rubric are transferable to computational, analysis, or design assignments seeking to engage students in iterative effort such as revision, refinement, or optimization. The following report presents development of the de-coupled rubric, supported by current literature, discusses a pilot implementation, and summarizes an assessment strategy for long-term adoption in a sophomore level technical writing course.