2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Motivation or Challenge: Due to the interdisciplinary nature of Biomedical Engineering (BME), BME students require high competency in technical skills, oral communication, and teamwork, yet these essential non-technical skills are often not addressed in traditional lecture and assessment formats. Additionally, even in well-designed homework assignments that give students practice with technical problem solving, students can view these as procedural tasks they need to complete rather than a deep learning opportunity. In a junior-level BME solid mechanics course, while students were encouraged to work with other students on homework to promote discussion of content and teamwork skills, it was apparent that some students didn’t work with others and ended up stuck on challenging homework problems, and among groups that did work together, there was often an inconsistent level of content understanding across individuals. Research in other engineering disciplines supports that assigned group homework combined with individual accountability promotes high engagement from group members and students report it helps them learn more than a traditional assignment (e.g., [1]). To address these gaps, I implemented a system of group homework supported by one-on-one student homework interviews with the instructor. I have found this approach provides four key benefits: 1) allows the instructor to identify and address gaps in students’ understanding before a high-stakes summative assessments, 2) provides students a low-stakes, formative practice in orally articulating complex technical knowledge during an interview, 3) enables the instructor to personalize instruction by adapting interview questions to individual student proficiency, and 4) guarantees students at least three focused, one-on-one interactions with their instructor.

Learning Objectives: This instructional approach designed to improve technical competency in the course content and provide students practice with oral communication, teamwork, and professionalism and preparedness in interviews.

Implementation: Students work in groups of 3 to complete 9 homework assignments. The homework assignments are assessed for correctness, and the group score is assigned to each member of the group. To assess a student’s individual understanding of the submitted homework, each student is assigned to complete 3 one-on-one homework interviews with the instructor. Each homework interview covers 1 homework assignment, lasts about 7-10 minutes, and occurs within a day or two of the homework due date. During the interview, the instructor asks students to describe one or more of their homework solutions selected by the instructor, probes their rational behind key engineering decisions, and asks students to apply their content knowledge to modified problem constraints. Student performance counts as a homework grade evaluated on a rubric, with technical competence weighted highest, followed by communication effectiveness, and professionalism and preparedness.

Situational Factors: A main barrier to implementation of this method is instructor time. This barrier can be mitigated by adjusting the number or duration of homework interviews to accommodate different class sizes or faculty time constraints.