Articulation Partnerships With Accredited Non Traditional Programs

Many Engineering Technology Students earn their degrees through the ‘2 plus 2’ program model. The first two years are often spent in community colleges, but finding a suitable institution for completing the Bachelor’s Degree can prove to be a challenge. This is especially true for students whose personal circumstances inhibit them from enrolling and completing their degree at a conventional school. Excelsior College was founded to make college degrees more accessible to qualified busy, working adults. It focuses on what its students know, rather than where or how they learned it. Its School of Business and Technology offers a variety of degree programs, including TAC of ABET accredited programs in Electronics Engineering Technology and Nuclear Engineering Technology. Because much of its interaction with students is the evaluation of coursework, experience and other sources of knowledge acquired elsewhere, Excelsior emphasizes student assessment activities, among them conventional assessment techniques, articulation agreements, industrial partnerships, and testing. It has also recently embarked on an extensive program of distance course delivery. One particularly unique dimension of student assessment is the Excelsior Integrated Technology Assessment (ITA). This portfolio-based assessment method is a capstone experience for Engineering Technology students, documenting their ability to integrate knowledge from various technical and general education areas and apply it in a meaningful way. The portfolio development process requires students to reflect on past experiences, both academic and professional, and then use the information gained from this reflective process to develop learning statements that address specific learning objectives. Excelsior’s Engineering Technology programs represent a laboratory of innovative assessment, articulation and course delivery, whose techniques can be used by all educational institutions to further the cause of educating and recognizing worthy students who might not otherwise be able to complete traditional degree requirements.