Teaching Students How to Read and Assess Plan Content

Few studies assess methods for teaching students how to evaluate plans. To fill this gap, we designed and analyzed a plan assessment exercise conducted during a ten-week, online undergraduate course with ninety students. We find that student understanding of plan knowledge and skills increased significantly after the plan assessment exercise with students reporting increased interest to engage in planning. This study can be used to inform planning pedagogy both within planning programs and as planners engage the public in plan reading and evaluation.