Assessing student learning of civil engineering infrastructure

Abstract

As part of an ongoing NSF-funded effort, materials have been developed for teaching civil engineering infrastructure topics to undergraduate students. These materials are currently being adopted by members of the Center for Infrastructure Transformation and Education (CIT-E) community of practice. CIT-E is a group of faculty from 25 universities in the U.S. and Canada seeking to improve infrastructure education. To assess how the teaching materials impact student learning, two assessment instruments have been developed. 1. A concept map instrument that assesses student understanding of infrastructure and the systems aspects of infrastructure, and 2. An "Infrastructures Views Survey" (IVS) that seeks to determine students' a. Understanding of the importance of infrastructure to society, b. Appreciation of the infrastructure problems in the US, c. Understanding of the potential solutions to infrastructure problems, and d. Interest in infrastructure challenges and solutions, including the pertinence of infrastructure management to their future careers. This paper provides background on the assessment instruments, describes how they were developed, and presents data from their use in two different classes using the CIT-E materials.