Exploration and Analysis of Reform in Assessment Methods for Mechanical Engineering Courses

Abstract

Mechanical engineering course assessment methods have long been dominated by closed-book written examinations, whose unitary form imposes constraints on the cultivation of engineering competence, resulting in a low correlation between course grades and students' genuine professional competence. In response to the structural deficiencies in the assessment dimensions of core mechanical engineering courses and the misalignment between the traditional assessment system and the attainment of course objectives, this paper proposes three reform paths: the construction of a formative assessment system based on ability stratification; the systematic embedding mechanism of project-driven assessment modules; and the dynamic redistribution of process weights. To ensure the effective operation of the above paths, this paper designs a strategy for aligning assessment standards with technical specifications of the mechanical industry, an organizational framework for multi-stakeholder collaborative assessment, and a teaching feedback closed-loop method driven by assessment data. By integrating formative assessment and project-based assessment elements and reconstructing assessment weight adjustment rules, the assessment system is enabled with self-adaptive capability to teaching difficulties and student performance, thereby enhancing the engineering equivalence and diagnostic accuracy of mechanical engineering course evaluation.