Work in progress: Using rigorous design reviews to teach and assess students' design capabilities

This paper presents a template for conducting rigorous reviews in design projects that set high standards for design excellence, thereby teaching and assessing students' design capabilities in the context of authentic design experiences. In engineering professional practice, the design performances of practitioners are tested in design reviews conducted at critical milestones of each project. For projects requiring approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other high stakes projects, design reviews evaluate the rigor and documentation of design processes as well as the quality of products delivered. The proposed design review structure draws from these rigorous design reviews to provide context, questions, and scoring rubrics that guide and probe design team achievements, documentation, and understanding.