Measuring undergraduate students´ self-efficacy in engineering design in a project-based design course

Engineering design pedagogy coupled with strategic problem-solving activities can foster real-world skills in students, and measuring students´ confidence in executing the activities can help understand the effectiveness of the pedagogy better. However there is little understanding of how strongly students´ confidence in problem-solving activities is related to students´ confidence in conducting engineering design. In this study, the students´ self-efficacy in engineering design and problem-solving activities was studied in three rounds (N = 67, 55, and 92 students). Data was analyzed to assess the students´ self-efficacy and to study how closely the efficacies in problem-solving and engineering design were related. Results showed an increase in students´ self-efficacy in areas related to engineering design. Regression and correlation analysis showed strong relationships between students´ self-efficacy in engineering design and other problem-solving activities.