Preparing for an Accreditation Visit

David Workman, Susan Bethel (CS)Ron DeMara, Damla Turgut (Cpe)

Kalpathy Sundarum (EE)School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

University of Central Florida

April 3, 2009

Outline• Background• Formation of the School of EECS

– Program Objectives & Outcomes– Curriculum Unification

• Unified Assessment Process– Two Assessment Cycles– Curriculum Oversight and Review Committees– Instruments for Data Collection and Analysis

• Preparing for the Visit– Self Study (Project)– Assessment Website– Mock Review– Course Materials Display

• Post Mortem

Background

• Institutional Effectiveness and Program Improvement (1996)(Operational Excellence and Assessment Support) OEAS

• Annual Assessment Cycle– Write/Revise Assessment Plan ( Program Objectives & Measures)– Collect Assessment Data (Senior Exit Survey, Alumni Survey, IAB )– Review Data and Report Results

• Program Objectives– CpE and EE (ABET a-k)– CS & IT (Roll your own)

• CS joins College of Engineering (CECS) 1999

• College Accreditation in 2002– CpE and EE (ABET)– CS (CSAB)

Formation of the School of EECS

• Established in Fall 2005– CS, IT, CpE and EE

• Unified Mission and Common Interests

• Planning for 2008 Accreditation (Fall 2006)– Develop Program Objectives– CS and IT accredited under new ABET/CAC– Define a Unified Assessment Process

• Curriculum Unification– Identify and Eliminate Course Duplication– Re-structure Pre-requisites– Revise Curricula – Implement in Fall 2007– Concerns

Unified Assessment Process

Course Descriptions

• Title and Number• Pre-requisites• Course Custodian• Textbooks & References• Topic Outline• Course Outcomes

– Assessment Instruments (Embedded Exam Question, Project Deliverables )– Performance Threshold ( Expected level for students passing the course)– Mapping to Program Outcomes ( for each Program for which course is

required)

Assessment Data Collection Spreadsheet

OutcomeMapping #1 #3 Total

PtsTotal

Outcome #1Total

Outcome #3Q1 … Qm

Student 1 13 10 23 13 10

…

Student n 8 7 15 8 7

Max Pts 15 10 25

Threshld 12 6 18 #1 Threshld #3 Threshld

Mean

Stdev

Table 2: Outcome Mapping

Pgm1 Pgm2 Pgm3 … PgmN

Course Outcome #1 X% X%

Course Outcome #2 Y% Y%

…

Course Outcome #M Z% Z%

Totals 2/2 1/1 1/2 0/1

Table 3: Program Performance

Pgm1 Pgm2 Pgm3 … PgmN

Course1 2/2 1/1 1/2 0/1

Course2 3/5 3/4

…

CourseM 2/5 3/3

Totals 5/7 3/6 3/5 3/5

Writing the Self Study

• Writing of the Self Study is a Project– Requires a Manager or Coordinator– Requires Planning (Time & People)– Requires Commitment from Contributors– Requires full cooperation of unit administrator

• Involves People at all Levels in the Academic Organization– College– Department /School– Library– Personnel – Enrollment Services

• Involve People with Special Knowledge– Administration (Personnel & Budget)– Accounting– Graduate Coordinator– Undergraduate Coordinator– Lab Supervisor– Systems Admin

Creating an Assessment Website

• Access to Information– Mission, Objectives, Outcomes (for each Program)– School Assessment Process– Course Descriptions (each Program)– Assessment Reports (each Program)– Program Performance Summaries (Table 3)

• Visit our Websitehttp://abet.eecs.ucf.edu/

Mock Review

• When to Schedule– After Self Study has been completed– Some Course Display Materials should be available– Leave time for changes before submitting Self Study to ABET

• Benefits to Computer Engineering– Statements of Program Ojectives– Student/Faculty Ratio– Paper Trail of Assessment Process – Demonstrate “Closing the Loop”

• Benefits to Computer Science– Weakness with Assessment Data ( only one cycle )– Concern about assessing program outcomes– Concern about address CAC a-k

• Benefits to Information Technology– Deficiencies in curriculum– Pre-mature (withdraw application for accreditation)

Course Displays & Team Workplace

Course Displays & Team Workplace

Other Preparation Advice

• Prepare Faculty– Know the Assessment Process– Know where to Find Information– Be familiar with Self Study

• Prepare Labs for Visit– Tidy– Safety Issues– Security Procedures and Access

Post Mortem

• Computer Engineering– Concern: Student/Faculty Ratio (36:1)

Remedy– Concern: Faculty supporting Software Engineering

Remedy

• Computer Science– Weakness: Regular Collection of Assessment Data (2 or more cycles)

Remedy– Concern: Covering and Assessing CAC (e)(g)(h)

Remedy– Concern: Teaching Faculty keeping current in discipline

Remedy

Questions?

• Thank You!