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Session 2532

An Implementable/Sustainable Outcomes Assessment Process for an Electrical Engineering Program Denise Nicoletti John A. Orr Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Abstract The ECE department at WPI has adopted four principal means of assessing program outcomes: course-based assessments, assessments of each senior project by the project advisor, a comprehensive biennial review of senior projects, and an annual senior survey. The course- based assessment component is both one of the more important assessment aspects, and one of the more difficult to design and implement. This paper reports the format and implementation of the course-based assessment as well as the results of the first year of implementation for this component. It also outlines the role which course-based assessment plays with respect to other outcomes measures, such as student, alumni, and constituent surveys.

Introduction and Overall Assessment Framework The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at WPI has been involved with the ABET EC20001 process since its inception, having been visited in the fall of 1996 as one of two pilot schools in the change from prescriptive to outcomes-oriented criteria. For the ECE faculty the most difficult aspect of the EC2000 implementation has been development of an effective means of measuring and assessing student outcomes from the electrical engineering coursework, and relating these outcomes to the overall EE program objectives and outcomes. These difficulties have several origins, and result in challenges in both the design and implementation of an assessment program which is simultaneously meaningful, implementable, and sustainable with moderate resources. The following guiding principles appear helpful: • Select a subset of courses and learning outcomes on which to focus (rather than attempting to measure and assess everything) • Carefully relate the learning outcomes from courses and projects to the overall educational outcomes • Obtain a complete set of measures for the outcomes, without excessive (and expensive) duplication, and • Save an appropriate record of the assessment for future consideration and action. This paper reports the results of the first year of implementation for this approach. It also outlines the role which course-based assessment plays with respect to other outcomes measures, such as student, alumni, and constituent surveys.

Course-Based Assessment The ECE faculty, with input from major constituencies, has established outcomes, and objectives for the Electrical Engineering program, and are now developing a comprehensive list of Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Nicoletti, D., & Orr, J. (2001, June), An Implementable/Sustainable Outcomes Assessment Process For An Electrical Engineering Program Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9348