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Engineering Student Attitudes Assessment
Author(s) -
BesterfieldSacre Mary,
Atman Cynthia J.,
Shuman Larry J.
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.tb00333.x
Subject(s) - process (computing) , engineering education , value (mathematics) , psychology , mathematics education , computer science , medical education , engineering , engineering management , medicine , machine learning , operating system
ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 requires engineering faculty to not only develop methods and measures for evaluating their specific degree programs, but also to use the resultant information to improve the educational process. While this implies a need to measure students' acquisition of knowledge and skills, we propose that much can be learned by measuring student attitudes and their changes over the student's four years of study. To demonstrate this, we present a case study which illustrates the use of three different techniques for obtaining attitudinal measures—focus groups, open‐ended surveys and structured interviews, and closed‐form questionnaires. The advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed, and results are presented to illustrate their collective value as part of a comprehensive evaluation system.