Evaluation of the assessment weightings for individual outcome-based projects by final year engineering undergraduates

Research Project-Based (RPB) assessment should be valid, reliable and socially acceptable in that it must not offend students under it, and must also be trusted and esteemed by those who have to act upon it. As the assessment component is an important issue, this study is aimed at describing the evaluation and development of outcome-based project assessment weighting factors by relating the subject assessment results and students’ overall academic performance. In particular, weighting factors for three deliverables commonly included in a RPB subject in the Department of Building Services Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ie project portfolio, presentation and individual written report, were determined by maximising the correlation between the RPB subject marks and students’ overall academic performance in terms of Grade Point Average (GPA). In this study, as the weighting factors of the assessment sub-components played an important role in determining the final course marks, they must be carefully established and examined by a panel of experts before launching a course. Determining the optimal method for assessment is beneficial to both students and facilitators. It can provide a consistent and objective measure of students’ performance.