A "Portfolio" Approach To Assessing The Industrial Engineering Curriculum At Wpi

A number of mechanisms are used for outcomes assessment at WPI, including exit surveys, a peer review of the senior project, and alumni surveys. These mechanisms provide information about the extent to which our graduates meet a particular program outcome, but they do not tell us the extent to which our graduates meet all program outcomes. To develop insight into how completely our students meet program outcomes, we have devised a “portfolio” approach that combines specific course assignments with the senior project review to evaluate individual students across outcomes. We call the resulting collection of materials a portfolio because it ties together the work of individual students. We put the term “portfolio” in quotes because the primary purpose is assessment, rather than self-awareness about learning on the part of the student.