Introduction and Invitation
Constructing resources for assessment and instruction related to the eleven student outcomes contained in Criterion 3 of the ABET Engineering Criteria requires contributions across the entire engineering community. If you have one or more resources (for example, helpful papers, survey forms, assessment materials, instructional materials) for assessment and/or instructional related to outcome j click here. Please indicate whether and how you would like your contribution to be acknowledged. Thanks for contributing the growing understanding of how we might help engineering students develop knowledge and skills that they will draw upon throughout their careers.
Learning Objectives
The first step in selecting assessment and instructional approaches for a learning outcome is to formulate learning objectives that support the outcome. Learning objectives describe expectations associated with the outcome in terms of expected and observable performances. Several researchers have already constructed learning objectives and these may provide worthwhile starting points for others.
A team of researchers (Larry Shuman, Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre, Harvey Wolfe, Cynthia J. Atman, Jack McGourty, Ronald L. Miller, Barbara M. Olds, and Gloria M. Rogers) working a NSF-supported project, Engineering Education: Assessment Methodologies and Curricula Innovation, used Bloom's Taxonomy to develop and organize a set of learning objectives for outcome 3j (knowledge of contemporary issues) [1]. They developed learning objectives for all six levels of learning in Bloom's taxonomy for two outcome elements:
- Ability to address the major socio-economic issues facing US and world
- Ability to address political issues at nation, state and local levels
The CDIO Initiative [2] has identified three outcome elements associated with outcome 3j (knowledge of contemporary issues), but has not constructed learning objectives for the outcome elements.
- The important contemporary political, social, legal and environmental issues and values
- The process by which contemporary values are set, and one's role in these processes
- The mechanisms for expansion and diffusion of knowledge
Felder and Brent offer the following two learning objectives for outcome 3j (knowledge of contemporary issues) [3]: Given a job-related scenario that requires a decision with ethical implications, the student will be able to:
- Identify important contemporary regional, national, or global
problems that involve engineering, and
- Propose and discuss ways engineers are contributing or might
contribute to the solution of specified regional, national, and
global problems.
Assessment Approaches
In a report from the National Research Council, Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment [4], assessment, once expectations have been constructed, rests on three pillars: cognition, observation, and interpretation.
Theory of Cognition
Under construction (20 April 2005)
Theory of Observation
Under construction (20 April 2005)
Theory of Interpretation
Under construction (20 April 2005)
Potential Resources
Under construction (20 April 2005)
Instructional Approaches
Under construction (25 January 2005)
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