2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This study explores the way in which students’ experiences in a multi-year undergraduate research program change their perceptions of assessment and achievement over time. This research program aims to cultivate transferable skills by immersing students in open-ended projects related to sustainable aviation. The projects that students participate in during their time in this program are designed, managed, and executed by the students themselves, with some faculty and subject-matter-expert mentorship. For the last two years, students have also been tasked with creating personalized assessment portfolios to demonstrate their achievement of the program's learning outcomes. A previous study showed that, at the onset of the program, students are more comfortable with developing traditional methods of assessment like technical reports and presentations but struggle to find ways to assess the development of transferable skills. The previous study also showed that students lean towards externally assessed artifacts to demonstrate their learning.

This longitudinal study systematically reviews data of student assessment proposals to identify the changes in student perceptions of assessment and achievement throughout their time in the undergraduate research program. As such, this paper will explore the efficacy of self-assessment as a means of assessing individual learning in a team-based undergraduate research course. Data is collected for each participant at the start, middle, and end of each term as part of their deliverables for the program. All data will go through a process of thematic analysis to identify trends in the students’ experiences. This analysis will be guided by the theory of metacognition to highlight the students’ understanding of their own learning. Early analysis suggests that students transition from traditional assessment forms to self-evident, individual artifacts over the course of the semester. The findings of this paper will help our community understand the impact of multi-year undergraduate research programs on students’ perceptions of assessment and achievement. Insights will also inform faculty mentors and program coordinators of undergraduate research experiences on the design of self-assessment artifacts that capture transferable skills.