New ABET Student Outcomes Assessment: Developing Performance Indicators and Instruments for Outcome 4

Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Department, having successfully completed the accreditation of the ME program in 2018–19 under the prior a through k student outcomes, dedicated the program meetings during academic year 2019–20 to develop assessment instruments in transitioning to the new ABET Student Outcomes 1–7. By deliberately involving the entire faculty to participate in the development of instruments, a grassroots level discussion and creation ensued for each outcome. The process is showcased in this paper for Student Outcome 4 on ethics as a model to share with our engineering faculty and to highlight salient features in the developed instrument and associated rubrics. The details of performance indicators interwoven across the curriculum and the methods of data collection are provided in a tabular form for ease of expectation and implementation. How the readily available materials from the National Society of Professional Engineers could be incorporated at early years of the baccalaureate program while the outcome’s performance indicators could be assessed at a deeper level during junior and senior years are showcased in this paper. The periodic dialogue among all colleagues who were working on various outcomes ensured proper communication of what one outcome group is prescribing that we do and receive input from those who are involved with the courses in which the data needed to be collected and the performance indicators are to be assessed. The general structure of our standing committees on freshman courses, energy, mechanics, and controls also provided the cushion to review the assessment instruments and provide constructive feedback from the corresponding committee’s perspective. These details of a very interactive Student Outcomes Assessment process will be presented.