2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

WIP: Implementation and Student Perception of Specifications Grading in Mechanical Engineering Courses

Presented at Mechanical Engineering (MECH) Session 11: Assessment, Accreditation, and Evaluation

This work in progress paper discusses the implementation and student perceptions of a specifications grading scheme in three Mechanical Engineering courses. The student perception was measured quantitatively using a recently published Perception of Grading Schemes instrument, with supplemental qualitative data from course evaluations gathered by the university. Data shows strong agreement between predicted and measured benefits to specifications grading, though measured student motivation to learn falls short of expectations.

Authors

Dr. Robert L Brown II http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6851-9373 Abilene Christian University [biography]

Dr. Brown is an associate professor and Director of Mechanical Engineering at Abilene Christian University in the Department of Engineering and Physics. He received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University. His primary focus of research is alternative grading schemes, with secondary interests in computational fluid dynamics and finite element modeling.

Download paper (476 KB)

Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.

» Download paper

« View session