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Outcome Portfolios as an Assessment Tool for ABET EC-2000

Ever J. Barbero, Larry E. Banta, Jacky C. Prucz and Charles F. Stanley

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-6106

Abstract

A novel implementation of outcome portfolios is presented. Outcome portfolios is an assessment tool used by the authors to accomplish triangulation in the ABET EC-2000 assessment process. Systematic and effective use of outcome portfolios has provided us with a convenient, reliable, and powerful tool for assessing the level of achievement of our graduates on all the program outcomes for the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programs at West Virginia University. The new system and its implementation into the assessment process are discussed here. Assessment data is presented to support the hypothesis that survey data alone is inconclusive and that outcome portfolios provide additional, valuable information for program enhancement. A comparison between the data for the two programs, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, is used to support our conclusions.

Introduction

Both the Aerospace Engineering (AE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) programs at West Virginia University are administered in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and have been accredited programs for a long time. Our last ABET visit under the old accreditation criteria took place in 1997. It resulted in a six-year review recommendation. In preparation for our first review under the EC 2000 criteria in Fall 2003, the department implemented a comprehensive assessment process to satisfy criteria 2 and 3 [1-3]. Three or more tools are necessary to accomplish triangulation [1]. Although surveys of various types are the most popular tools for assessment, they are subjective, and over-reliance on them may be misleading. Alternative tools such as standardized examinations, interviews, and focus groups tend to be costly in time and resources. The objective of this paper is to describe our approach to assembling, assessing, and improving outcome portfolios [4], as an essential assessment tool for outcome assessment under criteria 3.

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Barbero, E., & Banta, L. (2004, June), Outcome Portfolios As An Assessment Tool For Abet Ec 2000 Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--14063