The Alumni Survey as an Effective Assessment Tool for Small Engineering Programs

Puerzer, R.J.; Rooney, David

doi:10.1002/j.2168-9830.2002.tb00679.x

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The degree requirements and study goals of doctoral students and various types of master's students can differ greatly, increasing the complexity of designing a survey that addresses issues relevant to the graduate student populationat-large. In addition, surveying current students also entails a lack of hindsight perspective that allows respondents to provide more objective input (Puerzer and Rooney, 2002).…”

Section: Graduate Engineering Education Survey Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the purposes of outcomes-based assessment prescribed by ABET engineering accreditation criteria (ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission, 2007), engineering programs and investigators frequently use alumni surveys (e.g., Puerzer and Rooney, 2002). Despite its frequent use, the alumni survey poses potential problems in studying engineering graduate student experiences.…”

Section: Graduate Engineering Education Survey Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Engineering Graduate Student Research Proficiency with Student Surveys

Rogers

Göktaş

2010

J of Engineering Edu

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BACKGROUNDResearch is considered the essence of graduate engineering education, but knowledge about the engineering graduate student research experience is scarce in literature. Some studies that examine graduate engineering education suggest that students are experiencing educational deficiencies that can affect the research experience. Thus, exploring engineering graduate student research proficiency is warranted. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS)This work begins to earnestly answer the research questions "How proficient are engineering graduate students in research?" and "What factors affect the research proficiency of these students?" DESIGN/METHODIn order to answer the two research questions specifically for the Georgia Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering graduate program, current students in the program participated in two surveys. Survey questions were designed to measure students' perceptions of their research proficiency and to aid in determining student academic motivations tied to proficiency. RESULTSMany students indicated that they lacked research preparation upon beginning graduate study and during the first year of study, lacked development in important research skills like statistics and communicating in writing, and were somewhat hindered in research organization and progress. Regarding academic motivations, students generally valued personal advancement and enrichment over paper publication. Doctoral students overall indicated more preparation with respect to several aspects of research and more value placed on paper publication than did master's students. CONCLUSIONSThe surveys provided important findings regarding student research proficiency for the engineering graduate program in question. These findings encourage the exploration of engineering graduate student research proficiency on a broader scale in future studies.

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Section: Graduate Engineering Education Survey Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Graduate Engineering Education Survey Research Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Engineering Graduate Student Research Proficiency with Student Surveys

Rogers

Göktaş

2010

J of Engineering Edu

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“…Regarding the ABET requirements, usually an engineering faculty engages in the process of developing assessment plans to implement quality improvement and satisfy the Engineering Criteria (ABET 2003). Research performed to evaluate the imparting of the abilities required in the Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000), a survey was conducted on alumni to assess the importance of the course and the preparation in the engineering program (Puerzer and Rooney 2002).…”

Section: Benefits To the Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The paper beam: hands-on design for team work experience of freshman in engineering

Kalkani

Boussiakou

2005

European Journal of Engineering Education

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The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work, organizational instructions to the teams and reporting guidelines, and evaluation of the success of the project. The main outcomes refer to the team cooperation, the performance of tasks, the quality of results and the reporting effectiveness. The 'paper beam' project benefited the student's learning and proved the need of complementary learning styles in teams, of the appreciation of quality performance and results, as well as of the accuracy in project details.

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“…Evidence must be given that the results [of the assessments] are applied to the further development and improvement of the program." While numerous assessment instruments, from learning portfolios to surveys of various constituent groups, have been developed and discussed in detail in the literature, see for example Cheng (2001), Edwards et al (2002), Miller & Olds (1998), Puerzer & Rooney (2002), less attention seems to have been paid to the question of how exactly to use the results of these assessments to improve engineering programs or how to document this usage. This paper presents an approach adopted by the Computer Science and Engineering program at the author's university that has helped address both of these questions; as we will see, the approach offers a number of other advantages as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Program assessment and program improvement: closing the loop

Soundarajan

2004

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

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Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC 2000), the recently revised set of accreditation criteria for engineering programs in the US, places considerable stress on outcomes assessments. EC 2000 requires the assessment results to be used to identify program improvements, and for such usage and the resulting improvements to be documented.While numerous assessment instruments have been developed and discussed in the literature, less attention has been paid to the question of how to use these to improve the programs or to document this usage. In this paper, we present an approach that serves both to identify possible improvements based on the results of assessments, as well as to provide high-quality documentation. As an added bonus, it also helps incoming students and new faculty to get a good understanding of the structure and evolution of the program.

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The Alumni Survey as an Effective Assessment Tool for Small Engineering Programs

Cited by 20 publications

References 9 publications

Exploring Engineering Graduate Student Research Proficiency with Student Surveys

Exploring Engineering Graduate Student Research Proficiency with Student Surveys

The paper beam: hands-on design for team work experience of freshman in engineering

Program assessment and program improvement: closing the loop

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