2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper in the Assessment, Evidence, and Research Methods category explores how gamification can build faculty assessment literacy and collaboration across project-based learning environments while keeping human-centered engineering principles at the core of program improvement.

Design and project-based learning (PBL) courses have become hallmarks of engineering education, offering students opportunities to tackle authentic, open-ended problems that mirror professional practice. Yet faculty often struggle to align meaningful assessments with these experiences, especially when evaluating outcomes that are qualitative, integrative, or developmental, such as reflection, collaboration, adaptability, and lifelong learning. As human-centered engineering programs grow, so does the need for practical, engaging tools that help instructors connect authentic assessment practices to real-world design contexts and ABET-aligned outcomes.

This paper reports on the design, use, and evaluation of the Lifelong Learning Challenge Game, a playful, gamified approach to assessment design developed as part of a human-centered engineering department’s ABET review cycle. The game invites faculty to “deal out” combinations of engineering contexts, student learning outcomes, and assessment strategies, sparking creative dialogue about how to measure complex learning. For example, a player might draw a card describing a “community-based redesign project” (context card), pair it with “students demonstrate adaptability when faced with evolving client needs” (outcome card), and match it to a “reflection video documenting iteration decisions” (assessment card). Through play, participants explore trade-offs, challenge assumptions, and generate novel ideas for documenting student growth across project stages.

We implemented the game both as a faculty development workshop and as a curricular design tool. In the workshop format, faculty from multiple engineering and design disciplines played in small groups and then reflected together, using prompts such as “Come up with the worst idea,” “Try something you could use tomorrow,” and “Design an assessment your colleagues would actually adopt.” These lighthearted challenges encouraged divergent thinking and helped participants move beyond compliance-driven approaches to assessment. Within the ABET review process, the game served as a structured framework for mapping course outcomes to program-level assessment plans, revealing where project-based evidence could more effectively support continuous improvement.

Early implementations suggest that the card game format fosters collaboration and shared understanding among faculty who may otherwise feel isolated in their course design work. Participants noted that the tactile, low-stakes format made the process of aligning outcomes more approachable and even enjoyable. Gameplay also surfaced blind spots in existing assessment plans, particularly around human-centered and lifelong learning outcomes. For example, one group discovered that their “sustainability design challenge” lacked explicit measures of self-directed learning, prompting the creation of a structured reflection log that has since been adopted across multiple project courses.
By combining serious intent with playful interaction, the Lifelong Learning Challenge Game transforms assessment alignment into an engaging, co-creative process. It builds faculty capacity for reflective teaching and strengthens program assessment in design-centric and human-centered engineering contexts. The paper concludes with findings on faculty perceptions, evidence of design shifts, and recommendations for adapting the game to additional ABET-aligned outcomes such as teamwork, ethics, and communication.