Assessment Driven Evolution Of A First Year Program

The general engineering program at East Carolina University (ECU) was established in 2004. In the fall of 2007, a major curriculum change was initiated that introduced three new courses into the first year. These courses are Engineering Graphics, Introduction to Engineering, and Computer Applications in Engineering. Each of these courses contains projects or assignments that directly assess the achievement of ABET outcomes. In addition, student surveys provide indirect assessment of student achievement of ABET outcomes as well as course level objectives. Engineering Graphics provides direct assessment of outcome k (modern engineering tools), Introduction to Engineering provides direct assessment of outcomes f (professional ethics), g (effective communications), and h (impact of engineering solutions), and Computer Applications in Engineering provides direct assessment of outcomes g (effective communications) and k (modern engineering tools). This paper presents the details of the assessment assignments in each course, the results of both direct and indirect assessment, the changes made to affect continuous improvement, and the results, both good and bad, of the changes on subsequent assessment. Taken as a whole, this work demonstrates how making assessment-driven changes to first-year courses can markedly improve the program. The results of all of the assessment tools and improvements are discussed in detail within the paper.