Beyond Letter Grades: A Case Study in Developing an Evaluation System to Generate Project Performance Transcripts

Abstract

Traditional academic transcripts are usually restricted to demonstrating students' achievements and experiences during college life. As an example of extended transcripts, this study aims to introduce the development process behind an end-user product for a project performance evaluation system (PPES), which supports conducting project performance evaluations and generates project performance transcripts at a university. The first part of the study described the design process of the PPES. A user group of instructors, which continuously provided feedback on the prototype design, was formed. Consequently, the PPES was successfully developed and several main interfaces of the PPES were presented. The second part of the study analyzed user satisfaction with the PPES and the project performance transcripts it produced. In general, students perceived the project performance transcripts positively, and instructors were satisfied with both the PPES and its transcripts. The implications of developing a project performance evaluation system were discussed.