Mapping The Sustainable Developmental Goals And Student Perspectives On Skills Development Using Alternative Assessments For Engineering Education

Student-created video and in-class debate were introduced in the assessment of education for sustainable development (ESD) in an environmental engineering module. This work was undertaken with a group of structural and civil engineering students in their stage 3 of study for a level 8 degree. There were 63 students registered for this course: 40 civil and 23 structural. Prior to any intervention, a linking exercise was undertaken to map the words in the module descriptor to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This informed the design of the assessments. After completion of the respective assessments, student surveys were used to understand the student perspective on the use of these techniques. Students perceived acquisition of skills was analysed and qualitative questions relating to the attainment of knowledge were reviewed. The Student-created video was a summative individual assessment worth 5% of the final mark while the in-class debate was a formative assessment where students were required to work in groups of 4/5.