Construction Engineering Technology Program Assessment Framework

Abstract

With the ultimate goal of engineering programs to improve student learning, this paper presents the assessment framework developed, adopted, and implemented by the Construction Engineering Technology (CET) program at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The framework is set up to measure the attainment of both the Program Educational Objectives (PEOs) and Students Outcomes (SOs), as required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The assessment of the PEOs was conducted through indirect measures including surveys to alumni and industry advisory council. The assessment of SOs was conducted on a six-year cycle, in which both direct and indirect measures were used by the CET program. Direct measures included Performance Indicators (PIs) that are drawn from both the senior project and the coursework. Indirect measures included senior exit surveys, alumni surveys, and industry advisory council surveys. The framework presented enabled the CET program to implement continuous improvement measures into the program, and thus, could be implemented by other construction engineering programs nationwide, both as a general assessment tool and/or to achieve ABET accreditation.