Development and implementation of multi-level outcomes assessment plan for a construction degree program

Abstract

Assessment of learning outcomes for academic programs is an essential part of quality control and quality assurance. This process becomes rather intensive for professional degree programs because of the specific discipline requirements combined with institutional approaches and industry expectations. Accreditation agencies, at national, regional, and discipline levels, define outcomes assessment as a required component in their evaluations and most higher education programs have a version of these processes in place. This paper describes a seven-element outcomes assessment plan for a construction science and management program. The plan has a comprehensive list of components including academic, industry and student reviews. The first two elements of the plan are academic review items which consist of program level assessment and assessment of learning objectives for individual construction courses. The information from these reviews are then combined with information received from the industry representatives. Detailed feedback are collected through survey instruments form the companies that hire full-time employees or interns from the program. In addition, the program's Industry Advisory Council annually reviews the content and delivery of the construction courses through their Curriculum Committee. The student review elements include student evaluation of individual courses, specially designed exit surveys for graduating seniors, and alumni surveys for the graduates five and ten year into their careers. The paper also includes discussion about the challenges of defining a common terminology for the different assessment elements and creating the data collection system using technology. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.