Development of a scenario-based instrument to assess co-design expertise in humanitarian engineering

ABSTRACT

Co-design is fundamental to humanitarian engineering and increasingly recognised as such in engineering curricula. However, it is challenging to teach, learn, and assess. In this paper, we describe the development and validation of a scenario-based instrument to distinguish novice and expert approaches to co-design in the context of humanitarian engineering. The instrument assesses the extent to which respondents describe stakeholder participation in each of the scope, design, and deliver phases of the design process, with co-design experts taking a collaborative approach throughout. We analyse and compare responses to the instrument from first-year undergraduate engineering students and experienced humanitarian engineering practitioners. Implications for educators, to use this scenario-based assessment in their own research, teaching, and curriculum development, are discussed in detail.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-design
• scenario-based assessment
• humanitarian engineering
• rubric
• novice-expert comparisons

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the respondents in this study, those students and experienced practitioners who volunteered their time to participate. We also wish to thank the members of the research group in the former Engineering Practice Academy at Swinburne University of Technology who participated in a workshop to establish the communicative validity of the research. Their feedback helped improve the clarity of the rubric. Finally, thank you to the anonymous reviewers whose constructive feedback helped improve the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Scott Daniel is a STEM education and international development specialist. A former high school mathematics and science teacher and is now working as a Research Fellow in Engineering Education. He has worked in 10 countries on 5 continents, and as a consultant and facilitator with UNESCO, Australian Volunteers for International Development, Engineers without Borders Australia (EWB), Unbound, World Vision, the University of Sydney, the Victorian Department of Education and Training, and the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. He is a Director of EWB Australia, Vice-President of the Bendigo Discovery Science & Technology Centre, and a member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education Executive Committee and the Australian Science Communicators Victorian Steering Committee. He has also had a regular radio segment as ‘Dr Scott’ on ABC Gippsland, and on ABC Central Victoria, answering listeners’ questions about science. His current research focuses on the development of socio-technical and co-design expertise in the context of humanitarian engineering.

Andrea Mazzurco is a Lecturer of Engineering Education in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET) at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Andrea obtained his PhD in Engineering Education from the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, USA. Andrea’s primary research interests focus on the future of engineering practice, humanitarian engineering, and development of sociotechnical thinking in engineering.