The purpose of this study was to investigate the assessment of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) EC 2000 Criteria 3 (a–k) and 4 learning outcomes within the context of a comprehensive senior capstone design project. This study was conducted in two phases. First, a 13-item survey questionnaire was administered to faculty representing engineering disciplines from all 274 institutions in the U.S. with accredited engineering programs. Faculty were asked how engineering programs use the senior capstone design project to assess competencies related to capstone design, and if respondents were willing to collaborate on the development of reliable and versatile assessment instruments. The institutional response rate for the study was 44% (n = 120) of the 274 institutions with accredited programs. A total of 302 surveys were received across programs. All major engineering disciplines were represented. The gap between learning outcomes respondents report appropriate for assessment and those actually assessed indicate that many faculty may be uncertain about the task of developing quality assessments for ABET engineering learning outcomes based on capstone design projects. Responses from 65% of the faculty indicate a willingness to collaborate with colleagues across the country on capstone design assessment, development and use.; The second phase involved a follow-up survey or an on-site interview with 94 instructors of capstone courses across 60 universities in the United States. This in-depth approach provided a richer and more personal account of the strategies used to assess the competencies of the graduating engineer. Results indicated that, when examined in light of Stiggins (2001) five keys to quality assessment, engineering capstone faculty could potentially benefit from professional development workshops on assessment literacy and by sharing best practices through the establishment of a national repository for assessment tools and processes. Descriptive statistics summarize the results.
展开▼
