Achievement

Using what we learned in last year’s Assessment Workshop, we developed metrics to provide more feedback to students when they present their original research in our core IGERT researched-based, teaching laboratory course. The course uses research level stations so students approach original discovery each week. At the end of a rotation and for their final original research projects, teams of biologists and engineers work together to present their findings in a symposium-like format. We came to realize that criteria must be more specific in interdisciplinary groups than is required for those in a single field with common expectations and goals. To this end, we developed a rubric which explicitly points out three levels of effectiveness with examples so that students from biology and engineering develop common expectations of quality. Discussion of this rubric among interdisciplinary teams facilitates many of the most important education goals we wish to attain with our IGERT.