Honolulu, Hawaii
June 24, 2007
June 24, 2007
June 27, 2007
2153-5965
Cooperative & Experiential Education
12
12.1124.1 - 12.1124.12
10.18260/1-2--1764
https://peer.asee.org/1764
531
As an Associate Professor, Cheryl Cates has worked with cooperative education students for 16 years. Cates holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor of Arts Degree and has co-authored Learning Outcomes, the Educational Value of Cooperative Education, as well as chapters for the Handbook for Research in Cooperative Education and Internships and the International Handbook for Cooperative Education. In 2004 Cates became principle investigator on a grant from the United Stated Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to Develop a Corporate Feedback System for Use in Curricular Reform.
Anita Todd, Assistant Professor in the Division of Professional Practice, is the faculty co-op coordinator for electrical and the mechanical/nuclear ACCEND program and assists with the IT and data compiling needs of the division. Professor Todd has been actively involved in many local, regional, and national cooperative education organizations. Professor Todd is currently the president-elect for the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA), has presented and held board positions in the American Society of Engineering Education Cooperative Education Division (ASEE/CED), and the Pennsylvania Association for Colleges and Employers.
ONLINE ASSESSMENT AND LEARNING INSTRUMENTS FOR COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STUDENTS: THE IMPORTANCE OF CO-OP DATA TO ABET Abstract –The cooperative education programs managed by the Division of Professional Practice at the University of Cincinnati are academic programs committed to offer an education that meets ABET 2000 criteria. Cooperative education offers an opportunity for universities to assess at a formative level how well academic programs prepare students for career-related work experiences. An important goal of the University of Cincinnati is to provide improved market feedback to the degree granting departments to insure the department can meet the ever changing needs of industry. The online assessment tools described in this paper will help to close this feedback loop.
Introduction
The introduction of the Accreditation Board for Engineering Education Engineering Criteria 2000 (ABET EC 2000) comprises a considerable milestone in the evolution of engineering and engineering technology education. The new ABET criteria strongly accentuate a sensitivity to market needs. Measurement, feedback and continuous improvement form the corner stones of the ABET EC 2000 philosophy. 1
Cooperative education and internship programs have historically collected employer and student performance evaluation data each term. These evaluations have been used to reflect on and improve student or employer performance, however, the data has not been used in a formal way to provide feedback to engineering departments relative to academic educational goals, nor were the assessment tools designed to do so. 2
Cooperative education evaluation data has become increasingly important to engineering department administration as part of the overall measurement of the departmental education quality. This primarily stems from the fact that co-op programs work very closely with engineering employers soliciting their feedback on a term by term basis throughout the co-op process. Immediate feedback on market needs can be gained through the proper use of co-op evaluations. Therefore, great emphasis has been placed on developing evaluation criteria that meet the needs of the cooperative education programs and the ABET needs of the college or university. The University of Cincinnati (UC), along with many engineering cooperative education and internship programs recognized this assessment need, and developed new assessment tools in the late nineties in anticipation of the new ABET 2000 engineering criteria.
Until 2003, evaluations were gathered on paper, making the charge of analyzing and summarizing feedback for the departments a time consuming, if even possible task. The ease of using online data collection and evaluation tools has greatly
Cates, C., & Todd, A. (2007, June), Online Assessment And Learning Instruments For Cooperative Education Students: The Importance Of Co Op Data To Abet Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1764
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