Preparing for Program Accreditation Review Under ABET Engineering Criteria 2000: Choosing Outcome Indicators

This paper examines a variety of outcome indicators that might be used by an engineering program in meeting the assessment requirements of ABET Engineering Criteria 2000. Several categories of indicator are identified and key characteristics of these means of assessment are discussed. Also noted are some of the engineering applications of outcome indicators documented on the World Wide Web. Finally, the results of a recent telephone/fax survey on the use of outcome indicators in engineering program assessment are summarized.     

Characteristics of Freshman Engineering Students: Models for Determining Student Attrition in Engineering

Nationwide, less than half the freshman who start in engineering graduate in engineering, and at least half of this attrition occurs during the freshman year. Clearly, the freshman year is critical for both academic success and retention of engineering students. Such success depends not only on the knowledge and skills learned during this first year, but also on the attitudes individual students bring with them to college. Hence, if these attitudes can be measured before beginning college, we can develop more targeted programs for reducing attrition and improving academic success. Further, by measuring changes in student attitude over the course of the freshman year, we can develop better methods to evaluate engineering education programs. To learn more about these attitudes and how they impact upon retention, we undertook a three-year research effort. First we identified attitudes incoming students have about the field of engineering, their perceptions about the upcoming educational experience, and their confidence in their ability to succeed in engineering. These attitudes were then related to performance and retention in the freshman engineering program. To accomplish this, a closedform survey was developed, tested and administered to the 1993–94 and 1994–95 freshman engineering classes. This study demonstrated that student attitudes can provide an effective means for evaluating aspects of our freshman engineering program, particularly those relating to issues of attrition. Specifically, students who left the freshman engineering program in “good academic standing” had significantly different attitudes about engineering and themselves than those possessed by other comparison groups: students who stayed in engineering and students who left engineering in “poor academic standing.” We developed regression models to predict attrition and performance in our freshman engineering program using quantified measures of student attitudes. Implementation of the models has allowed freshman advisors to better inform students of opportunities that engineering offers, to devise better programs of study that take advantage of students' varied interests, and to set retention goals that are more realistic.     

Outcomes Assessment of Engineering Writing at the University of Washington

Effective writing skills are crucial for engineers, and engineering programs have always struggled with how to prepare their students for the writing they will do as professionals. Now, programs must also show the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) that they have clear educational outcomes for engineering communication and have a process for assessing student performance on those outcomes. At the University of Washington, we have spent the last five years developing an outcomes‐based assessment program for engineering writing. In spring 2001, the first round of writing assessment was completed. The assessment indicated that most of our students are competent in the outcomes we have developed. It also uncovered several weak areas, particularly in regard to working with sources and to adequately stating and supporting the purpose of the writing. We will be addressing these areas with additional instruction in the stand‐alone technical writing courses taken by engineering students. The process described in this paper could be helpful for other engineering programs preparing for ABET accreditation visits.     

Designing and Teaching Courses to Satisfy the ABET Engineering Criteria

Since the new ABET accreditation system was first introduced to American engineering education in the middle 1990s as Engineering Criteria 2000, most discussion in the literature has focused on how to assess Outcomes 3a‐3k and relatively little has concerned how to equip students with the skills and attitudes specified in those outcomes. This paper seeks to fill this gap. Its goals are to (1) overview the accreditation process and clarify the confusing array of terms associated with it (objectives, outcomes, outcome indicators, etc.); (2) provide guidance on the formulation of course learning objectives and assessment methods that address Outcomes 3a‐3k; (3) identify and describe instructional techniques that should effectively prepare students to achieve those outcomes by the time they graduate; and (4) propose a strategy for integrating program‐level and course‐level activities when designing an instructional program to meet the requirements of the ABET engineering criteria.     

EC2000 and Measurement: How Much Precision is Enough?

As engineering faculty engage in the process of developing assessment plans to implement continuous quality improvement and satisfy the requirement of Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000), there is a concern about what measures are adequate to provide evidence that an engineering program is meeting its stated objectives. Some engineering programs are looking at using course grades as evidence that students are meeting the learning outcomes mandated by Criterion 3 of EC2000. After all, if there is a course in engineering design, why shouldn't grades be used to demonstrate that students are acquiring the skills necessary to meet the required outcome? The question remains as to whether or not course grades are adequate and/or efficient as a means to evaluate program effectiveness. This paper will define what is meant by educational inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes in order to clarify the focus of the new “outcomes assessment” model of engineering education accreditation. A framework will be presented to clarify the meaning and scope of assessment activities needed to meet the information needs of academic programs and institutions. Models for course assessment and program assessment will be presented and the similarities and differences discussed.     

热工仪表现场校正维护管理系统软件的设计

本文介绍了一个数据库应用程序的设计与实现过程 .该数据库应用程序是热工仪表现场校正维护管理系统的核心组成部分 .它提供一个开放式环境 ,可实现与多种多功能校正仪专属软件的连接 ,从而达到使企业热工仪表的计量检定工作实现全面计算机化的目的     

A Survey of Engineering Education Outside the United States: Implications for the Ideal Engineering Program

Undergraduate engineering programs in fourteen countries are surveyed to determine the status of engineering education outside the United States and to analyze the implications for the ideal engineering program of the future here in the United States. The items surveyed include the number of years required to obtain an engineering degree, title of the engineering degree, high school preparation for engineering programs, cost of education, completion rates for engineering degrees, entrance requirements, mathematical requirements, and support for laboratory work. The most notable aspects of engineering education outside the United States are:

• ? Stronger high school preparation and requirements in mathematics and science
• ? Longer period of time required for an engineering degree
• ? Advanced level of mathematics required in engineering programs
• ? Low cost of education

It appears that in most countries engineering education is more intense and rigorous than in the United States. In formulating the ideal engineering program of the future we must be sensitive to competing programs in the rest of the world.     

Advancement of the Engineering Management Body of Knowledge

Trade around the world has become globally interconnected. Engineers play an integral role in designing products, managing supply chains, providing services, and increasing the quality of life for people and promoting sustainable development around the globe. Engineering managers make decisions every day that will have profound impacts on international suppliers, customers, partners, consumers, and the environment. Traditional education for engineering students focuses on the technical aspects and scientific principles. Education in some countries may focus exclusively on mathematics, science, and engineering topics. The North American model incorporates a general education component into the undergraduate program of study to give students a broad appreciation of ideas ranging from art to literature to the social sciences. This paper will investigate how undergraduate engineering management programs educate their students to be able to work in international settings or in the global workplace. This initial study will concentrate on the engineering management programs that are accredited by ABET, an international organization that accredits technical programs in higher education. ABET has accredited over 3,400 programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology in 28 countries. This study will access publicly available information to determine the breadth and depth of education related to helping prepare engineering management students to work in a global marketplace. These data will be collected from the programs accredited by ABET using the “Engineering Management” program criteria, due to the public availability of this information. Initial findings will be presented, and may serve to identify opportunities for cooperation and further work.     

Assessing K‐12 Pre‐Engineering Outreach Programs*

Motivated by a desire to excite K‐12 students about the joys of engineering and spark their interest in pre‐engineering subjects, the Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder has developed a pre‐engineering outreach program targeted at K‐12 teachers and students. To supplement anecdotal success indicators, ITL developed several assessment tools to measure the impact of these programs. Assessment strategies consist of three key components: 1) assessment of workshop participant feedback (teachers and students), 2) assessment of long‐term outcomes (teachers), and 3) assessment tools developed for the teachers' classroom use (i.e., embedded assessment). This paper reviews the process used to develop the assessment plans and tools. Examples of the tools used to assess participant feedback and preliminary outcomes are provided. Additionally, the process used to develop embedded assessment tools is described, including development of performance criteria and assessment tools that are linked to the learning goals, objectives, and K‐12 State educational standards.     

A Topical Analysis of Mechanical Engineering Curricula

This study has dissected the current curriculum in mechanical engineering into a list of required topics. The list indicates what material is currently considered to be the essential body of knowledge for graduating mechanical engineering students. It also provides a measure of the extent to which curricula differ from institution to institution. There is similarity in core material required among the institutions which we considered, but each one adds distinct requirements which give it an individual flavor or emphasis. The list reveals some of the differences among degree programs. While institutions have adjusted curricula to conform to the ABET engineering criteria, how they fulfill the “technical skill” outcomes is clearer than how they fulfill the “professional skill” outcomes. This survey shows that dissecting a degree program into required topics is useful for curriculum reform, as it provides a baseline to study the curriculum at a level more finely grained than a course.     

Lookup peaks: a hybrid of de novo sequencing and database search for protein identification by tandem mass spectrometry

A powerful technique for peptide and protein identification is tandem mass spectrometry followed by database search using a program such as SEQUEST or Mascot. These programs, however, become slow and lose sensitivity when allowing nonspecific cleavages or peptide modifications. De novo sequencing and hybrid methods such as sequence tagging offer speed and robustness for wider searches, yet these approaches require better spectra with more complete and consecutive fragmentation and, hence, are less sensitive to low-abundance peptides. Here we describe a new hybrid method that retains the sensitivity of pure database search. The method uses a small amount of de novo analysis to identify likely b- and y-ion peaks--"lookup peaks"--that can then be used to extract candidate peptides from the database, with the number of candidates tunable to fit a computing budget. We describe a program called ByOnic that implements this method, and we benchmark ByOnic on several data sets, including one of mouse blood plasma spiked with low concentrations of recombinant human proteins. We demonstrate that ByOnic is more sensitive than sequence tagging and, indeed, more sensitive than the three most popular pure database search tools--SEQUEST, Mascot, and X!Tandem--on both the peptide and protein levels. On the mouse plasma samples, ByOnic consistently found spiked proteins missed by the other tools.     

The Use of Focus Groups for Minority Engineering Program Assessment

To increase the attraction and retention of minority engineering students, many higher-education institutions have implemented programs to help address academic and social pressures these students face. A key question for administrators of such programs is their actual impact on the targeted students. Since these programs seek to improve retention rates by positively improving students' experience with their institutional environment, it becomes crucial to assess students' perceptions of their college experience. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how focus groups can be used for educational program assessment, in particular minority engineering programs. An evaluative study of minority engineering programs at a state university is used to illustrate this methodology. In this paper, we describe how the study was designed and conducted, the resources required, the types of results obtained from the study, and the follow-up strategies.     

Using Industrial Summer Intern Programs as a Tool for Engineering Education

Global competition and rapid changes in technology are creating a greater need for cooperation between academia and industry. One well-established tool for promoting cooperation is the summer intern program. Unfortunately, there is limited literature regarding how these programs promote engineering education. This paper documents the objectives, methodology, and results of Project Probe^SM—a unique summer intern program offered by American Electric Power (AEP) to provide qualified engineering students with meaningful education and work experiences in electric power generation under the direct supervision of engineering faculty. This program attempts to foster cooperation between academia and the power industry, enhance the education of future engineers in areas of critical need to the industry, provide a breadth of “real-life” experiences for the development of engineering faculty, and benefit the host corporation. It is hoped that Project Probe could serve as the basis for a viable model for development of similar programs.     

New Curriculum Reforms in a Geological Engineering Program

Recent curriculum revisions to the geological engineering program at Queen's University at Kingston in Canada have led to a more streamlined program incorporating modern engineering education practices. Following a carefully designed program philosophy, the emphasis in the core curriculum changes through the entire four‐year program in three progressive stages, from the acquisition of knowledge, to integration and analysis, and finally to synthesis and design. This is reflected in an increased concentration of mathematics and basic science courses in first and second year, engineering science courses in third year, and engineering design courses (capstone courses) in fourth year. Two tools which concisely illustrate the course curriculum and curriculum content are: (1) the flow sheet, which can contain a wealth of information, such as showing linkages between courses (e.g. how upper‐level courses can build on lower‐level courses through course prerequisites), the timing of various courses, courses taught within the home department (vs. other departments), and courses taught by professional engineers; and (2) the ternary phase diagram, which is a quantitative method of displaying engineering content within individual courses or an entire program and can clearly show patterns and trends in curriculum content with time. Such tools are useful for academic engineering programs which may have to undergo an accreditation review and are readily adapted to any other engineering fields of study. Other engineering elements woven throughout the program include strong interactions with professional engineering faculty, the use of student teams, enhanced communication skills, and exposure to important aspects of professional engineering practice such as engineering ethics and law. To ensure that the curriculum is kept current and relevant, formative evaluation instruments such as questionnaires are used in all years of study, and are also sent to recent graduates of the program. External reviews of the revised program have been positive, indicating that the program goals are being achieved.     

Verbal Protocol Analysis as a Method to Document Engineering Student Design Processes

Undergraduate engineering programs have faced numerous challenges in recent years. One of these challenges is to improve the way open-ended design is taught. Although changes are underway in schools throughout the United States, not enough evaluation has been done to determine the impact of these changes. In this paper we describe a research tool that can also be used to assess student learning: verbal protocol analysis. In particular, this tool can be used to document the processes that engineering students use to solve open-ended engineering design problems. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the use of verbal protocol analysis as a method to assess student design processes. We also discuss the research questions that can be addressed by verbal protocol analysis and the opportunity to include this type of study as part of an engineering program evaluation.     

Developing a Comprehensive Assessment Program for Engineering Education*

This paper provides an overview of one institution's efforts to establish a comprehensive assessment program for continuous improvement of engineering education. A five step systematic process to develop an integrated assessment program from identifying educational objectives to applying measurement methods is explained in detail. Activities to encourage faculty participation and commitment are outlined. Four integrated assessment processes used by both faculty and students to assess and provide performance feedback are described. The focus of these assessment methods is on the measurement, development, and improvement of student learning outcomes aligned with ABET Engineering Criteria 2000. Preliminary results and lessons learned from the overall experience are highlighted.     

Encouraging Graduate Study in Engineering

Abstract This study was undertaken to provide information on the factors that most influence students to undertake graduate studies in engineering following their baccalaureate degrees. Several hundred engineering deans were asked to send a questionnaire to the three departments in his/her college that had been most successful in encouraging their undergraduates in proceeding to graduate school. Responses indicated that student participation in semester research, student participation in summer research, and mentoring by faculty are the most significant in encouraging students to proceed with graduate studies. These conclusions were confirmed by a survey of newly entering engineering graduate students. Fifty percent of student respondents indicated that they had been involved in some form of research as undergraduates and eighty percent of this group identified that this experience had been important to them in deciding to choose graduate study. It is concluded that the inclusion of undergraduate students in research programs can be very important in influencing their career choices and in enhancing their likelihood of proceeding with graduate studies.     

Four Effective Writing Strategies for Engineering Classes

This article, written by three technical communication professors and one chemical engineering professor representing three different universities, presents four proven strategies for including effective writing assignments in engineering classes. The strategies include using writing assignments to analyze job-related Web searches and engineering job preparation, using peer editing to revise assignments, using journals to learn to write and write to learn, and using paper airplanes to teach how to write instructions.