Outcomes Assessment Plan

Department of General Engineering

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

 

I. Process Used in Developing the Plan

The General Engineering’s Outcome Assessment plan ("Plan") is being coordinated by the Department's Associate Head, Professor M. H. Pleck, with advisory input from the Department's faculty, Courses and Curriculum Committee, Graduate Programs Committee, and Alumni Advisory and Industry Board. The plan has evolved from several common yardsticks of student outcomes already employed informally by the Department. They have been combined with additional measures to produce a coherent and formalized Plan.

 

II. Desired Learning Outcomes

The educational mission of the General Engineering undergraduate and graduate programs is to produce graduates who can:

1. Understand and apply mathematical reasoning, scientific principles, and engineering methods.

2. Identify, formulate and solve engineering problems.

3. Design and conduct experiments; analyze and interpret data.

4. Design a component, system, or process to meet desired needs.

5. Apply the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

6. Function on multidisciplinary teams.

7. Communicate effectively in spoken, written and visual/modeling forms.

8. Understand professional and ethical responsibility.

9. Understand the impact of engineering solutions in societal and global contexts.

10. Engage in life-long learning.

11. Address contemporary issues.

12. Understand and appreciate cultural and ethnic differences.

13. Understand how to apply business fundamentals to promote utilization of new technology.

14. Engage in entrepreneurship.

15. Conduct research (graduate program).

16. Succeed in engineering and non-engineering careers.

The components of the curriculum that address these objectives are shown in Table 1.

 

III. Measurement Instruments and Techniques

The Department of General Engineering plans to evaluate the success of the outcomes

it has set forth for its graduates in the following ways:

A. Available Instruments

1. Campus Senior Survey of entering and exiting abilities (contains department-specific, college-specific subset data).

2. Nationally normed exams (FE, GRE, et. al).: department-specific, college-specific breakdowns.

3. Capstone engineering design national competition award summaries (annual Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation Awards).

4. College of Engineering Placement Survey of new graduates (contains departmental subset data)

5. College of Engineering Alumni Surveys - Five and Ten Years After (contains departmental subset data).

6. College of Engineering Cooperative Education Student Self-Evaluation.

7. College of Engineering Cooperative Education Employer’s Evaluation.

B. Existing Instruments/Techniques to be Revised

1. Senior exit survey (presently conducted within GE 291 course).

2. Senior Capstone Design student self-evaluation.

C. Instruments to be Created

1. Senior Capstone Design sponsors’ survey.

2. Departmental Alumni Survey - five years after.

The learning objectives that are addressed by these instruments are shown in Table 2.

 

IV. Process for Using the Results

An annual report incorporating the results from section III will be assembled by the Associate Head with the assistance of the Assistant to the Head. It will be presented to the Department Head who will disperse the results to the Department’s Outcomes Assessment Committee, Alumni Advisory and Industry Board, and student society (Gamma Epsilon, Illinois Society of General Engineers) Executive Boards. The Outcomes Assessment Committee will be charged to make specific recommendations to the Head for addressing issues which arise from the annual report. Advisory feedback will be solicited by the Head from the other groups.

 

V. Timetable for Implementation

Measurement instruments in Section III.A will be employed in and data from them analyzed beginning in the 1999-2000 academic year. In the same time period, the surveys in Sec. III.B and C will be developed and placed on line for trial use in the 2000-2001 academic year and modified as necessary with the expectation to be placed into use in the 2001-2002 academic year.

 

VI. Support Needs

A $1,000 grant from CTE has been awarded by the UIUC Center for Teaching Excellence to underwrite in part the development of the revised and new surveys of Sec III.B and C, place those of Sec. III.B on line, and devise computer-assisted strategies for analyzing, summarizing and presenting the results in conjunction with those of other instruments.

 

VII. Plan Modification

If a measurement instrument heretofore overlooked or later developed by any agency is judged by the General Engineering Outcomes Assessment Committee or Plan Coordinator to complement, replace or enhance the existing Plan instruments of Sec. III, the Department of General Engineering reserves the right, upon approval the Campus Outcomes Assessment Committee, to modify its Plan to include it.

MHP:040199

 

 

Objective

Curriculum Component

1, 2

Required Math (16 credit-hours)

Required Chemistry and Physics courses (14 credit-hours)

Required engineering courses (48 credit-hours)

Technical Electives (6 credit-hours)

3

 GE 224, 225, 226, 342/343

4

 GE 100, 342, 343

5

 Upper-level engineering courses, namely GE 221, 222, 232, 288, 289, 323, Design Elective (choice of GE 241, 324, 380)

6

 Group work occurs in all laboratory courses, namely GE 100, 103, 224, 225, 226, 342/343. Group projects are assigned in GE 100, 103, 342/343 (Capstone course)

7

 Composition I and II courses, Laboratory courses, and capstone course, namely Comp I (Rhet 105), GE 100, 103, 224, 225, 226, 292 (Comp II), 342/343

8

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum; specifically addressed in GE 291, 292

9

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum; specifically addressed in GE 291, 342/343

10, 11

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum

12

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum; specifically addressed in General Education social science and humanities courses and GE 291

13

 Implicit in upper-level GE courses and specifically addressed in GE 288, 289, and 380 (Design Elective)

14

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum; specifically addressed in GE 291 and fostered in the Secondary Field of Concentration

15

 Implicit in MS degree requirements (GE 499, Thesis Research)

16

 Implicit in all 131 hours of the curriculum and fostered in the Secondary Field of Concentration

Table 1. Curriculum Component Addressing Objective(s)

 

Objective

Instrument

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

A1

Campus Senior Srvy

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

A2

Normed Exams

X

X

A3

Capstone Results

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

A4

COE Placement Srvy

X

A5

COE Alum Surveys

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

A6

Coop-Ed Self Srvy

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

A7

Coop-Ed Empl Srvy

(x)

(x)

(x)

(x)

(x)

X

B1

GE Senior Survey

X

X

X

X

B2

Capstone Self Eval

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

C1

Capstone Spnsr Srvy

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

C2

Dept Alum Srvy-5

X

X

X

X

X

(x) Implicitly measured by overall performance rating

Table 2. Instruments Addressing Learning Objectives