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Bridging diverse institutions, multiple engineering departments, and industry: A case study in assessment planning
Journal of Engineering Education, Apr 1998 by McMartin, Flora, Van Duzer, Eric, Agogino, Alice
Clearly established roles for faculty, students, and industry were essential to gaining buy-in to the planning process. While slightly more complex to arrange at a coalition level, they are equally important at the departmental leveL Only by the participation of the primary stakeholders can assessment planners ensure that what is valued in engineering education is assessed.15
III. CHALLENGE: CREATING CONSENSUS ON WHAT TO ASSESS
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In January of 1995 the Synthesis Coalition hosted a meeting of its project leaders, students, and industrial board members to kickoff the assessment planning process. This was the first time these three groups had met at the same place and time. Together, they began to negotiate common understandings, explore their different perceptions about engineering education, and recognize how and where their worlds intersected in this setting. For instance, one MIB member argued that engineering education needed to better prepare students for the ambiguity of working without clear standards or rewards. Faculty responded that if they tried to put students into such an ambiguous situation, students would not react well because they would not know what was expected of them or "how to get an A." With a little prompting, this kind of informal discussion focused around the seven qualities associated with Synthesis reform efforts: open ended problem solving, communication, multi-disciplinary design, teamwork, hands-on facility with hardware, integrating industry practices in the classroom, and attention to the social, technical, and economic impact of engineering.
At this point, the participants were engaged in a modified version of the assessment planning process recommended by Rogers and Sando.16 In order to articulate the seven general Synthesis Coalitions qualities more explicitly, the participants brainstormed responses to statements based on the qualities such as: "An engineer who can communicate effectively has the ability to
." Once the list of these kinds of abilities was generated, the group brainstormed the characteristics (criteria) that are examined in industry and in the classroom to determine if an engineer or student possesses that ability. Finally, the group identified classroom practices that allow students to demonstrate those characteristics and abilities. During the course of these meetings over 500 abilities, characteristics, and activities were identified.
To begin narrowing the list towards a manageable number of outcomes to assess, the faculty listed the top three qualities on which they wished to have their students evaluated. The vote showed clearly a consensus around: communication, open ended problem solving, multi-disciplinary design, hands-on facility with hardware, and teamwork. After more discussion and negotiation with students and the industry representatives, it was agreed to focus student learning assessment around these five learning goals.
An assessment task force was formed to work on the (raw) brainstormed material. In addition to the Assessment Director, the task force was made up of two faculty members, an industry representative, and two students. This task force reviewed the ideas generated by the larger group and refined them into a smaller, focused set of approximately 30 assessable learning outcomes. First, the task force took a straw vote to identify the five to ten most important abilities identified at the project leader meeting (e.g., teamwork or open ended problem solving). This accomplished, more negotiation and some additional brainstorming were necessary to finalize the list.
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