Abstract
Excerpt: In contrast to entering a long-standing program which may already have established methods of assessment, joining a newly created engineering program provides an opportunity to consider how assessment could be created on a programmatic level. Assessment is particularly critical for new programs, and thus a continuous cycle of improvement was developed in the engineering programs at Florida Gulf Coast University. What resulted is a culture in which assessment for continuous improvement is the rule, rather than the exception. One way to ensure the viability of such a system is to create links between assessments at all levels, that of individual lessons to course outcomes and course outcomes to student outcomes as defined by ABET. What follows is the ability to apply student performance on specific items as one means of assessment of programmatic performance. If this is carefully orchestrated in multiple classes over the entire curriculum, the program assessment becomes meaningful and robust, without placing undue strain on any single faculty member. This systematic approach also allows for improvement of specific courses, and more directly, select modules of a course, identifying strengths and areas for improvement that can be targeted at the topic / lecture level for gains at all levels.
