Beyond the Self Studies 1/13

Want to discuss some of the ways the School engages in assessment and“continuous improvement” that do not appear in the Self Studies.

Location of “Display Material:”

URL: abet.eecs.wsu.edu/materialsuser name: abetpassword: daur4vzl

These slides are available at:

goo.gl/Svs5us

A Bit of EECS Assessment History 2/13

Prior to 2007 ABET visit, School had course assessment in every course,every semester.

This approach continued for two years after 2007 visit, but it wascumbersome, intrusive, and yielded material with a low-signal-to-noise ratio.

Old course assessment reports available at:

www.eecs.wsu.edu/˜schneidj/Assessment

Working with Ashley Ater-Kranov, EECS developed new assessment plansthat used a sampled approach.

Material is collected from selected sources and analyzed by faculty (typicallynot the faculty who taught the material).

New plan has been in place three years (one complete cycle of the plan).

Performance Indicators 3/13

One “feature” of new plan is the use of performance indicators to helpdisambiguate ABET Student Outcomes.

For each course, the faculty specify whether a performance indicator isexplicitly covered, whether the students demonstrate competence, andwhether the students are assumed to have prior competence.

Example: CptS Outcome D, “An ability to function effectively on teams toaccomplish a common goal.” Accompanying performance indicators:

1. Fulfills different roles on teams and in meetings.

2. Fulfills individual responsibilities outside of team meetings.

3. Gives feedback; seeks and is receptive to feedback; seeks andappreciates different approaches or perspectives of other teammembers.

The resulting “curricular maps” that show where Student Outcomes appearwithin the curriculum are available at:

abet.eecs.wsu.edu

Student Retention 4/13

All students in the School were required to take two four-credit programmingcourses (CptS 121/CptS 122; C/C++).

Experienced a drop-out rate as high as almost 80 percent!

Brought in new (excellent!) instructor for CptS 121.

Developed an entirely new (optional) preparatory course, CptS 111,Introduction to Algorithmic Problem Solving (Python).

Retention has more than doubled from its low point (more than a 200percent improvement in retention!).

Year-by-year numbers to be given at Dean’s presentation on Tuesday.Raw data available here.

Student-Owned Equipment 5/13

Recently did away with traditional lab-bench approach to circuits labs andadopted a model based on student ownership of equipment. (Have beenusing “student ownership” approach in digital systems and microprocessorscourse.)

Demonstrably improves student performance:I Learn more, learn faster,

retain more.

I Score higher on tests.

I Complete more assignments.

I Use fewer resources.

I Better enjoy the experience.

Studies published in Proceedings of ASEE 2008-2011.

Analog Discovery 6/13

I Two Analog Input Oscilloscopes

I Two Waveform Generators

I Logic Analyzer

I Digital Pattern Generator

I Network Analyzer

I Spectrum Analyzer

I Two Power Supplies

I Voltmeter

I $99 (Academic Price)

Self-contained, USB powered; Hi-Speed USB2 data transfers; Waveformscan be played over integral audio jack; Data import/export to Office apps;Integral help screens with contextual help; Cross-instrument triggering;Works with MATLAB.

Student-Owned Equipment 7/13

Lots of data to support how this approach enhances learning—and providesa solution to resource constraints! Some evidence:

I Jay Weitzen’s work at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell:I Reported at FYEE, 2013: “‘Laboratory in a Box’ for First Year ECE

Students.”I Covered in Forbes and Electronic Design.

I Kathleen Meehan’s work at Virginia Tech:I Reported at ASEE, 2013: “Exploiting a Disruptive Technology to

Actively Engage Students in the Learning Process.”I Reported at ASEE, 2013: “Lab-in-a-Box: Strategies to Teach

Online Lab Courses While Maintaining Course Learning Objectivesand Outcomes.”

I The work of Greco et al. at Arkansas Tech, “Efficacy of an Individualized,Self-Contained Instrumentation System in Electric Circuits Laboratory.”

I The work of Yacob Astatke at Morgan State University, $3.8M NSFgrant, “Experimental Centric Based Engineering Curriculum for HBCUs.”

Student-Owned Equipment 8/13

With EECS’s adoption of instruction based on student-owned equipment, weare not following the lead of others.

We largely led the way!

Clint Cole, a co-founder and president of Digilent, is an instructor in EECS.

Gene Apperson, a co-founder and Vice President of Engineering at Digilent,used to be an instructor in EECS (and still teaches courses for us).

Tim Hanshaw, an EECS instructor, has produced a wealth of instructionalmaterial for introductory circuits that is freely available via the Web (materialis based, in part, on Analog Discovery).

Senior Design and Realistic Constraints 9/13

Have made copies of EE/CptE senior-design project reports for the past threeyears.

Confident you will find that design teams had to deal with various “realistic”constraints in their work: material, performance, economic, energy, etc.

Teaching Excellence Committee 10/13

One of the best ways to ensure continuous improvement is to have motivatedteachers assigned to classes they want to teach.

EECS has a Teaching Excellence Committee (TEC) that reads every courseevaluation that students submit.

TEC report is given to the Assessment Committee, the Director (evaluationsaffect faculty annual reviews), and EECS Curriculum Coordinator.

The Curriculum Coordinator (Shira Broschat) heavily weighs courseevaluations in making teaching assignments.

TEC reports are available here: 2011and 2012.

Annual Faculty Retreat 11/13

Another important source of information concerning the overall quality of ourprograms is the annual Faculty Retreat.

Hardcopy of notes from most recent faculty retreat are available.

Some action items resulting from most recent retreat:

I Rethinking mix of required and elective courses in CptS.I Creation of “tracks” within CptS degrees.

Documentation of subsequent email-based discussion is available in thiszipped mailbox file: mbox.zip.Draft description of proposed change is available here.

I Recognized the opportunity to increase the amount of “design” in seniordesign and enhance ethics education by adding a new ethics course(EE/CptS 302). Syllabus for proposed new course is here.

I Recognized the need to continue to find a way to enhance theprogramming skills of EE’s.

Changing Technology 12/13

Various faculty are exploring the use of other new trends in engineeringeducation, e.g., flipped classes, “learn before lecture” videos, and clickers.

John’s Complaint 13/13

Canceling classes for a football game is the stupidest d**n thing the WSUupper administration has done!