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Session 1625

Assessment of Engineering Educational Outcomes through Student Portfolios

El-Hadi M.Aggoune, Francis C. Wang Henry Cogswell College Everett, Washington 98201

Introduction

Student portfolios have assumed increasing importance in engineering educational program outcomes assessment. This is especially true since ABET published its Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000). As a response, institutions to be reviewed by ABET with these new criteria have implemented some type of student portfolios. A common approach involves collecting various pieces of evidence such as design projects and national test results to prove that their graduates have met the required outcomes under Criterion 3 of EC 2000. In many cases, however, a lack of the fundamental concept of educational outcomes assessment is clearly visible – the linkage between portfolio content, content assessment, corrective action planning and implementation, and evidence of program improvement.

In this paper, we share our experience in portfolio development and present a tool that assisted us in the assessment of student educational outcomes set forth by ABET. In the following sections we first answer the question where does the portfolio fit in a typical assessment plan. Second the goal, content, evaluation, and analysis of the portfolio are addressed. Finally the challenges encountered and conclusions are provided.

Educational Outcomes Assessment Plan

The educational outcomes assessment process can be viewed as a way to reassure stakeholders (students, parents, faculty, administration, governing board, alumni, donors, accrediting bodies, etc.) of the quality of education provided by an institution. Its purpose is for an institution to use the results for self-improvement. Typically, an assessment plan includes the following:

• Objectives based on the programs role in the institution’s mission • Criteria against which to measure objective attainment • Tools to collect data and procedures indicating how assessment is done

Part of our assessment plans are the student portfolios [1]. For example, Appendix A shows the assessment plan for the Electrical Engineering program. In this plan, the student portfolio is used to address ABET’s requirements which in turn address the fourth program objective as follows:

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Wang, F., & Aggoune, E. M. (1999, June), Assessment Of Engineering Educational Outcomes Through Student Portfolios Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--7740