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feedback on abet processali h. sayedchair, electrical engineering, uclaecedha annual meeting, march 2009

2. ABET REVIEW (FALL 2006). Our EE program was reviewed by ABET during fall 2006 and received accreditation for 6 years. . 3. ACCREDITATION REVIEWS. Periodic program evaluations are a healthy (but costly) exercise because they motivate departments to stay alert and focused. Accreditation is also a good motivator for regular curricular updates and revisions.AT UCLA EE, the ABET process has kept the faculty engaged in continual evaluation of our UG curriculum..

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feedback on abet processali h. sayedchair, electrical engineering, uclaecedha annual meeting, march 2009

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    3. 3 ACCREDITATION REVIEWS Periodic program evaluations are a healthy (but costly) exercise because they motivate departments to stay alert and focused. Accreditation is also a good motivator for regular curricular updates and revisions. AT UCLA EE, the ABET process has kept the faculty engaged in continual evaluation of our UG curriculum.

    4. 4 OBJECTIVES vs. OUTCOMES Program Educational Objectives (PEOs): are broad statements that describe the career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing its graduates to achieve. Program Outcomes are narrower statements that describe what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. These relate to the skills, knowledge, and behaviors that students acquire in their matriculation through the program.

    5. 5 TYPICAL ASSESSMENT MECHANISM

    6. 6 Example: SELF-STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE 2.E Process for Establishing Program Educational Objectives Describe the process that periodically documents and demonstrates that the Program Educational Objectives are based on the needs of the program's various constituencies.

    7. 7 EVALUATION OF PEOs Contrived Example for a fictitious University A: PEO#1: Graduates of our program will succeed in graduate school or in technical careers. Metric: 90% of graduates will be either in graduate school or in industry positions. Assessment: you find out that 70% are in graduate school or industry and 30% are high school teachers. What does this mean from the accreditation perspective?

    8. 8 Contrived Example Continued. Possible Options: Modify the curriculum to discourage students from becoming high school teachers!? Reduce the 90% figure to a more realistic goal of 60%. Either way, the PEO will likely be met and ABET will be satisfied. But how does this make my educational program stronger? EVALUATION OF PEOs

    9. 9 STUDENT LEARNING The emphasis should not be on training students to pursue graduate school or succeed in industry. Accreditation should not promote views that limit student possibilities Students should be able to achieve whatever their imagination, creativity, and ambition will take them to. It is not up to the university to limit student possibilities through a set of pre-defined PEOs.

    10. 10 STUDENT LEARNING There is a distinction between educating students and training students. Universities educate students. More focus should be placed on the Program Outcomes and the fundamentals. If the foundations are taught well, then students will be able to pursue their dreams with confidence and drive.

    11. 11 STUDENT LEARNING ABET needs to find how assessment of the Program Educational Objectives can lead to meaningful improvement of a program. Major emphasis should be on: Assessing the learning of fundamentals in class Assessing learning across the curriculum (integration) Independent thinking and self-learning (design) Communication skills and presentations

    12. 12 PROGRAM EVALUATORS Program evaluations should not depend on the opinion of one single evaluator. Personal experiences and preferences can bias the outcome greatly. Consider a committee of evaluators (say 3); but there are cost issues involved. Evaluators can be from industry, government, or academia. Their experiences are usually vastly different and they tend to emphasize almost orthogonal priorities. This issue can be addressed if programs are evaluated by committees with at least one member from academia. ABET training of evaluators is not enough; having experience in actual curriculum development is critical.

    13. 13 ABET VISITS The format of the ABET visit is unconventional, rigid, and stressful; unnecessary barriers are placed between the ABET team and the programs. Evaluation visits should be a two-way learning process; should be an exercise in open-minded discussion about best practices: Departments can learn from best practices transmitted to them by the evaluator and the evaluator can learn from listening to the point of view of faculty and educators.

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