Evaluating Design Project Creativity in Engineering Design Courses

Abstract

Creativity is integral to design success, yet creativity is not well-defined nor easily evaluated. A goal of engineering design courses is to teach creativity, or at least creativity methods, e.g., brainstorming, random stimuli, etc., that when applied, should increase design creativity. However, it is unclear how creativity outcomes can be evaluated, or even if creativity should be evaluated within an engineering design course, such as for a design project. In this paper, we discuss creativity and approaches to evaluating creativity using both the literature and our experiences with evaluating design project creativity. We also describe future work required to further understand and develop methods of evaluating design project creativity with the aim of encouraging students to consciously work towards creative designs.