According to the characteristics of the talent training mode in the Applied universities, combined with the requirements of the engineering education accreditation of the civil engineering specialty, the current situation and existing problems of the traditional teaching of the design principle of steel structures course has been discussed. This paper probes into some concrete measures of teaching reform from the aspects of curriculum objectives, classroom design, teaching methods and assessment methods, and puts them into practice in the course. Based on the characteristics of the course, this paper introduces the specific operation mode and the establishment of the multiple assessment and evaluation system in the implementation process, and analyzes the effect of the reform and the feedback of students. Through the teaching reform, the comprehensive ability of students to analyze, sort out, summarize, present and report complex engineering problems has been improved, which has important practical significance for improving the teaching effect of the course and enhancing the quality of education, and also makes a beneficial exploration for the training of applied talents.