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Outcomes Assessment at WPI: A Pilot Accreditation Visit Under Engineering Criteria 2000
Author(s) -
Schachterle Lance
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.896
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 2168-9830
pISSN - 1069-4730
DOI - 10.1002/j.2168-9830.1998.tb00331.x
Subject(s) - accreditation , curriculum , unit (ring theory) , construct (python library) , engineering management , medical education , engineering education , engineering , computer science , psychology , medicine , pedagogy , mathematics education , programming language
Abstract Accreditation under Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000) requires institutions 1) to define engineering unit and program missions in such a way that success of the mission goals may be measured; 2) to devise a curriculum that fulfills institutional, program, and EC 2000 goals for students and graduates; 3) to devise metrics that indicate when students meet these goals; and 4) to construct feedback mechanisms to ensure that the assessment of student outcomes metrics drive continuous improvement of the whole educational system. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) was one of the first two institutions to undergo accreditation under EC 2000 because of WPI's project‐based curriculum which provided some experience with each of the four EC 2000 requirements above. This article reviews how WPI prepared for the EC 2000 visit (which occurred in November 1996), discusses what strategies for conducting an EC 2000 visit worked well, and concludes with some short‐ and long‐term issues that all institutions must address to realize the full benefits of EC 2000.