Outcomes Assessment: Sharing Responsibilities

The need for assessment methodologies has become more pressing in recent years, and, as such, the new criteria for accrediting programs in engineering in the United States developed and implemented by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology in Baltimore makes it clear that schools must address these issues. Implementing this methodology will require multiple measures administered over a long period of time and will require engineering faculty and administrators to devote a considerable amount of effort and energy. Because over 50% of undergraduate engineering course work is taken outside of the College of Engineering, it would seem feasible that engineering faculty could establish cooperative efforts with these service course providers to assist the College of Engineering in its efforts to achieve its educational goals and in assessing the outcomes of its various engineering programs. In this paper the rationale for sharing the outcome assessment as well as how the specific sharing can be accomplished is presented.