Course Review In The Assesment Process

A joint program in Electrical Engineering has been created with Western Kentucky University (WKU) and the University of Louisville (UofL). The program resides at WKU with UofL faculty delivering 16-24 hours into the curriculum through distance learning methods. The focus of the new EE program is a project-based curriculum. WKU’s Electrical Engineering Program has developed an assessment plan to insure a systematic pursuit of improvement. A major component of this assessment process is course review. Immediately following each semester, EE faculty conduct course review of all courses taught during the previous semester. This review is used to evaluate courses within the larger context of the program. Course review is also a place for implementation of changes due to the assessment process. The engineering faculty discuss how and where changes are needed in order to improve the program as a whole. In addition, course review is used ensure that course outcomes are being meet. If problems exist action plans are proposed to improve the courses. Introduction Western Kentucky University had an engineering technology program for over three decades. However, due to the growth and development of local industries it was determined that engineering technology was under serving regional needs. In 2000, the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Council for Postsecondary Education (CPE) created the Statewide Strategy for Engineering Education. WKU phased out the engineering technology program and phased in the engineering program. In the spring of 2004 WKU graduated their first cohort of engineering students. The electrical engineering program at WKU is jointly offered with the University of Louisville. The initial ABET visit for this program occurred November 2004. The focus of the new WKU Department of Engineering is project-based engineering education. An excerpt from departmental mission statement exemplifies the focus clearly: “The mission of the Department of Engineering is to produce, as its graduates, competent engineering practitioners. An engineering practitioner is one who has a foundation of basic science, mathematics, and engineering knowledge, combined with practical knowledge and experience in applying existing technology to contemporary problems.” P ge 10357.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education Western Kentucky University’s vision has been to develop new engineering programs that are more suitable to the relevant local industries and the students’ learning styles. We have deliberately focused on building a new curriculum centered on the need for successful practicing engineers while not attempting to simply replicate existing engineering programs from other schools. Project-based learning model was adopted for this purpose. Project-based learning is gaining more support in the American undergraduate engineering education. Our Electrical Engineering program has strong emphasis on the implementation of design experiences at all levels of the curriculum. The program is committed to producing graduates who are well prepared for the start of productive, successful careers as practicing engineers. An engineering program is a living entity, not just a list of courses and syllabi organized into a catalog. We recognize the progression of student experiences required to help students grow from "Learners" into "Observers" and "Assistants" and eventually "Practitioners". These are our "Roles of the Student" in a project-based curriculum and this philosophy has shaped our development of the curriculum and departmental faculty promotion policy. Development of Program Outcomes An initial version of the program outcomes were drafted during the summer of 2002 by the program faculty. In addition, faculty members began to develop measurement tools. That work continued through the fall semester of 2002 and culminated with a review of external consultants in the spring semester of 2003. The program faculty presented the outcomes were presented to the program advisory committee in both the spring and fall meetings of the 2002-2003 academic year. The assessment process began in the fall semester of 2001 and continues. The EE program at WKU has defined the following six Program Outcomes, shown below. The Program Outcomes are entirely consistent with the goals of the Department of Engineering. These measurable outcomes then become characteristics of the graduates that they take into their careers. Through academic experiences and appropriate training, the graduates are prepared for their careers and will enjoy success and growth in their field of endeavor. These outcomes cover the ABET criteria 3. 1A) EE graduates possess knowledge of core EE topics including circuit analysis, electric machines, microprocessors, and control systems, and can develop mathematical representations of systems 1B) EE graduates use their understanding of science and mathematics to support their work in solving electrical engineering problems. 2A) EE graduates plan and implement cost-effective electrical engineering designs using modern engineering equipment and software. 2B) EE graduates can effectively work with and on multi-disciplinary teams and understand the importance of teamwork in an engineering environment. 3) EE graduates are aware of trends in electrical engineering and are engaged in path of life-long learning. P ge 10357.2 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education 4) EE graduates are committed to excellence in all professional endeavors and apply their understanding of ethics to solve engineering problems. 5) EE graduates effectively communicate technical material in an oral, written, visual, and graphical manner 6) Regional employers will employ WKU electrical engineering graduates. The EE Program at WKU is dedicated to a continuous improvement. Assessment is an integral part of the development of the program. WKU used the development of a new program to make assessment an integral part of the program. A multi-loop assessment process is used to evaluate the overall program outcomes and objectives. This multi-loop process is shown in Figure 1 on the next page. The interior loops represent the assessment of the Program Outcomes. The inner loop represents the course review process. At the conclusion of every semester all faculty who taught courses in the program participate in course review. This includes the evaluation of survey data, rubrics, and other information. The results of the assessment loops are then combined to determine if the program outcomes and have been met. The assessment of each outcome is achieved using a variety of measures, including • Review of course material using rubrics • Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam • Surveys of graduating seniors • Survey of our Industrial Advisory Board Faculty evaluation of outcomes takes place in two forms. Each semester, faculty members hold a course review session to review every engineering course taught in the program. The primary function of the course review is to improve course outcome delivery; however the integration of the courses across the curriculum is also discussed. The second review is performed annually, where the faculty reports and discusses the data gathered for each Program Outcome.