2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Shortcomings of traditional written assessment instruments are well-documented. In particular, traditional exam and quiz assessments rarely represent actual experiences of a practicing engineer. Other assessment modalities such as traditional homework and “take-home” exams are not robust to challenges posed by generative artificial intelligence (AI) or portals such as Chegg and Course Hero. Accordingly, assessments that incorporate authentic professional experiences within engineering classrooms instead may be preferred. Authentic assessments can provide students with experiences that they will encounter in their careers while, at the same time, providing instructors an opportunity to assess students’ grasp of topical engineering content. The work presented here seeks to examine the question “how do students perceive more authentic assessments?” by documenting a “technical interview” oral midterm exam administered as a major assessment within one section (33 students) of a core Introduction to Thermal-Fluid Sciences (ITFS) engineering course. Interviews were led by the course instructor, who asked each team to respond to a previously provided prompt. After each team’s exam interview, each student on the team was anonymously surveyed regarding her or his own perceptions of the oral assessment. Broadly speaking, students indicated positive perceptions of the oral interview approach, indicating that they thought deeper about, gained a better understanding of, and learned new things about course content while preparing – more intensively as a team – for the oral exam compared to traditional exam instruments. Overall positive sentiment regarding individual student experience, enhanced learning outcomes, team dynamics, and modeling of professional engineering reality suggests that oral examinations can serve as an effective alternative and/or complement to traditional non-oral assessment instruments.