Design skills assessment in teaching 3D modeling

ITMO University, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: lokalov@itmo.ru

Abstract

The article discusses the design skills assessment method, which was developed and used to teach basics of three-dimensional modeling. This method is necessary because the creation of a virtual 3D model usually does not include the design phase as a separate phase with own specifications and design documentation and all design activities are performed in mind without any preliminary sketches. The offered method allows assessing the quality of the student's mental design operations based on the analysis of the 3D modeling process tracking. The student's activity in the 3D modeling environment was captured using special software. The obtained data allow to identify the essential parameters of the students' actions (correctness, optimality, etc.), which were used to quantify their design skills. The construct validity of the proposed method and its statistical significance of the assessment were confirmed.