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Session 1793

Using WebCT to Assess ABET ET2K Outcomes

Thomas B. Slack The University of Memphis

Abstract A characteristic of the new criteria for TAC/ABET accreditation is the assessment requirements. This part of the new criteria seems daunting to many people. However, assessment of the outcomes of education has always been a part of the university experience through the use of grading. The conventional criteria evaluated this assessment by requiring the school to capture graded student work and create course books with these captured samples in them. By looking at the assessments of the students done by the teachers during a course, an evaluator could come to some conclusions about the quality of teaching being done. The old method is adequate for capturing the outcomes that are directly related to what is now called Criterion 1 Subsection A. The new criteria are more specific about what should be measured and this new specificity is captured in Criterion 1 Subsections B-K Criteria. The new criteria also require assessment data to be presented in a new form, summarized and collated according to the program outcomes; i.e., the new criteria require alignment between the stated outcomes of a program and the curriculum being taught. It is these outcomes that require assessment, and not the sometimes nebulous content of a course that may or may not directly contribute to them. This paper documents a method to begin capturing assessment of our program outcomes by using WebCT on-line testing.

The need This paper is concerned with what is referred to by Gregory Neff from Purdue University Calumet as course embedded assessment1. There are many other assessment techniques that are mentioned in that article and other places which will not be addressed here. TAC/ABET curriculum evaluators using the conventional criteria made this assessment of the school by requiring the school to capture graded student work and create course books with these captured samples in them. By looking at the assessments (graded work) of the students done by the teachers during a course, an evaluator could come to some conclusions about the quality of teaching being done. TAC/ABET curriculum evaluators using the TC2K criteria make this assessment by requiring the school to assess their students against a stated set of outcomes defined by the institution. These outcomes must be seen to fulfill the criteria set by ABET. A summary of these criteria are the infamous A-K Subsections of Criterion 1, and are as follows2:

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Slack, T. (2004, June), Using Webct To Assess Abet Et2 K Outcomes Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13469