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Assessment Driven Evolution of a First year Program

Abstract

The general engineering program at East Carolina University (ECU) was established in 2004. In the fall of 2007, a major curriculum change was initiated that introduced three new courses into the first year. These courses are Engineering Graphics, Introduction to Engineering, and Computer Applications in Engineering. Each of these courses contains projects or assignments that directly assess the achievement of ABET outcomes. In addition, student surveys provide indirect assessment of student achievement of ABET outcomes as well as course level objectives. Engineering Graphics provides direct assessment of outcome k (modern engineering tools), Introduction to Engineering provides direct assessment of outcomes f (professional ethics), g (effective communications), and h (impact of engineering solutions), and Computer Applications in Engineering provides direct assessment of outcomes g (effective communications) and k (modern engineering tools). This paper presents the details of the assessment assignments in each course, the results of both direct and indirect assessment, the changes made to affect continuous improvement, and the results, both good and bad, of the changes on subsequent assessment. Taken as a whole, this work demonstrates how making assessment-driven changes to first-year courses can markedly improve the program. The results of all of the assessment tools and improvements are discussed in detail within the paper.

Introduction

The B.S. is engineering program at ECU was initiated in Fall 2004. A general, rather than a discipline-specific, program was selected in order to match the demands for flexible problem solvers of the primarily small and medium-sized companies of the geographic area. The curriculum adopted included a common engineering core, with four concentration areas for a limited degree of specialization in the junior and senior years. The curriculum was also designed to incorporate best practices from the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Education Coalitions.1 Among these best practices was the “Implementation of ‘engineering up front’: the exposure of freshmen to hands-on, real world engineering practice early in their undergraduate education, ranging from ‘professional level’ laboratory facilities to realistic design projects.”2 Two freshman courses designed to provide students early exposure to engineering concepts were created. Both were six-credit courses. The first, ICEE 1010 (ICEE stands for Integrated Collaborative Engineering Environment), was taught in three one-hour lectures and three two- hour lab sessions per week. Topics included graphics, introductions to mechanical and electrical engineering concepts, professional practice topics (such as teamwork, ethics, and project management), and a robot project. The second course, ICEE 1020, was taught in five one-hour lectures and one two-hour lab session per week and included statics, mechanics of materials, materials science, and engineering economics.

In an “ideal” environment (all students beginning in fall semester at the same math level, all students highly motivated to learn engineering, and no transfer students), these freshman courses

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Williams, R., & Howard, W. (2010, June), Assessment Driven Evolution Of A First Year Program Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16538