Application of data management tools for ABET accreditation

Abstract

A task of the ABET accreditation process is to document achievement of student outcomes and to link student outcomes to the attainment of program educational objectives. Traditionally, evidence for individual courses is stored in a hard copy sampling of student work. However, the advent of electronic document conversion and database management enables instructors the ability to readily prepare documents for continuous assessment. Recently, a data management and assessment tool was created and applied for documenting and evaluating student outcomes for courses within an engineering program. Documents included course syllabi, lecture notes, video recordings of oral presentations, and handwritten samples of student work, all saved to an electronic format. Once the evidence was compiled, the achievement of student outcomes for each piece of evidence was ranked based on the cognitive domain of Bloom's taxonomic scale and cataloged into an Access database by course. Following this assessment, the actual achieved Bloom's level of each student outcome was compared to a previously determined course target. This relation demonstrated whether an instructor was over or under achieving the intended student outcomes for the course and provided a basis for course and curricular improvement. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application and usefulness of these data management tools in evidence collection, curriculum assessment, and continuous improvement. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.