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Session 2973

An Assessment and Evaluation of an Integrated Engineering Curriculum

Gary R. Weckman, Robert A. McLauchlan, and Jennifer Crosby

Texas A&M University–Kingsville Kingsville, TX 78363

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to report a comparative analysis of student performance in a Traditional Engineering environment with Foundation Coalition (FC) students over a six year period of time at Texas A&M University–Kingsville (TAMUK). The FC is an engineering coalition funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The purpose of this program is to provide a means of improving current engineering programs in order to produce quality students that can meet the changing and demanding needs of their future employers. This analysis makes use of data provided by the Assessment and Evaluation (A/E) team at TAMUK. A commitment was made by TAMUK, along with six other FC partner institutions, to thoroughly assess and evaluate the work of students to provide a foundation that would ensure student development and life-long learning in engineering education.

I. Introduction

This work makes use of data provided in the course of developing Assessment/Evaluation (A/E) results for the Foundation Coalition curriculum development research project at Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK). It is the result of a commitment made by TAMUK, together with six other Foundation Coalition (FC) partner institutions, to thoroughly assess and evaluate their work in providing a foundation that will ensure student development and life-long learning in engineering education1. The FC is an engineering coalition funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Coalition partners are: Arizona State University, Maricopa Community College District, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, Texas Women’s University, and The University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa and TAMUK.

Assessment activities are being performed across university campuses to develop their own assessment instruments. These assessment processes have typically been implemented in a relatively short time within engineering programs due to the new ABET criteria 2000. The effects of these assessment programs have lead to program and/or curriculum changes altering conventional learning and teaching processes2. The prediction of student academic success in an engineering curriculum is a predicament at any university3. Student historical performance data has been used to train a neural network to predict the level of success (GPA) of students in engineering at TAMUK. The data was provided by the A/E for FC project at TAMUK4. The analysis found that neural network can be used to predict student academic success in terms of

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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McLauchlan, R., & Crosby, J., & Weckman, G. (2001, June), An Assessment And Evaluation Of An Integrated Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--8926