ABET Accreditation of SE Program

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ABET Accreditationof SE Program

• Department of Computer Science
• UT Dallas

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2003-04 EAC Criteria(For BS SE program)

• I. Students
• The institution must evaluate, advice, and
  monitor students to determine its success in
  meeting program objectives
• Policies for transfer students and transfer
  credit
• Procedures to assure that all students meet all
  program requirements.
• II. Program Educational Objectives
• Each Engineering program must have in
  place
• Educational objectives that are consistent with
  the mission
• Process in which the objectives are determined
  and periodically evaluated
• Curriculum, processes that ensure the achievement
  of these objectives
• A system of ongoing evaluation that demonstrates
  achievement of these objectives and uses the
  results to improve the program

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2003-04 EAC Criteria

• III. Program Outcomes and Assessment (a-k)
• Engineering Programs must demonstrate that
  their graduates have
• An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics,
  science and engineering
• An ability to design and construct experiments,
  as well as to analyze and interpret data
• And ability to design a system, component or
  process to meet desired needs
• An ability to function on interdisciplinary teams
• An ability to identify, formulate and solve
  engineering problems
• An understanding of professional and ethical
  responsibility
• An ability to communicate effectively
• The broad education necessary to understand the
  impact of engineering in a global and societal
  context
• A recognition of the need for, and an ability to
  engage in life-long learning
• A knowledge of contemporary issues
• An ability to use the techniques, skills and
  modern engineering tools necessary for
  engineering practice

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2003-04 EAC Criteria

• III. Program Outcomes and Assessment (cont)
• Each program must have an assessment process with
  documented results
• Provide evidence that the results are applied to
  the further development and improvement of the
  program
• Demonstrate that outcomes, objectives are being
  measured.
• Professional Component
• The Curriculum must include
• A major design experience
• One year of mathematics and basic sciences
  appropriate to the discipline
• One and one-half years of engineering topics
  appropriate to the students field of study
• General education component consistent with the
  objectives.

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2003-04 EAC Criteria

• V. Faculty
• Sufficient size and competencies to cover all
  curricular areas
• Adequate levels of student-faculty interaction,
  advising, service, professional development,
  interactions with practitioners, employers
• Qualifications and authority for proper guidance
  of the program and for evaluation, assessment,
  and continuing improvement processes.
• VI. Facilities
• Classrooms, labs, equipments must be adequate to
  accomplish the program objectives
• Foster faculty-student interaction and encourage
  professional development
• Provide opportunites for students to learn the
  use of modern engineering tools
• Infrastructure to support scholarly activities of
  students, faculty and the educational objectives
  of the institution

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2003-04 EAC Criteria

• VII. Institutional Support and Financial
  Resources
• Institutional support, financial resources,
  leadership that are adequate to ensure the
  quality and continuity of the engineering program
• Sufficient resources to attract, retain, and
  provide for professional development of a
  well-qualified faculty
• Sufficient resources to acquire, maintain, and
  operate appropriate facilities and equipment
• Support personnel and services must be adequate
  to meet program needs
• VIII. Program Criteria
• Each program must satisfy applicable program
  criteria specific to the program

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2003-04 EAC Criteria

• Program Criteria for Software Engineering
  Programs
• The curriculum must provide both breadth and
  depth across the range of engineering and
  computer science topics implied by the title and
  objectives of the program
• The program must demonstrate that graduates have
  
• ability to analyze, design, verify, validate,
  implement, apply, and maintain
  software systems
• ability to appropriately apply topics from
  Math/CS to complex software systems
• ability to work in significant application
  domains.

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Accreditation Process
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Accreditation Process

• The CS Dept., ECS School have in place
• Educational objectives and outcomes for each
  program
• Educational objectives for each class
• Mapping of outcomes to objectives
• Assessment of objectives and outcomes
• Exit Surveys
• Alumni focus groups and surveys
• Employer focus group and surveys
• Industrial Advisory Board
• Curriculum committees to review input and
  recommend changes

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Industrial Advisory Board

• The IABs involvement in the accreditation
  process includes helping to
• determine goals and educational objectives
• assess goals, objectives
• establish goals for outcomes
• assess outcomes
• review degree requirements and proposed changes

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Goals of the Software Engineering Program

• The mission of the undergraduate Software
  Engineering program is to provide students with a
  solid foundation in theory and practice of
  software engineering, and to prepare them for
  productive long-term careers in industry and
  government.
• The program prepares Software Engineering
  graduates to meet the immediate needs of the
  software development industry, adapt themselves
  to the rapidly evolving industry needs, and
  further their education in graduate school.

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BS-SE Educational Objectives

• PEO-1 effectively apply knowledge of
  programming, algorithms, data structures, and
  software engineering to the development of
  complex software systems.
• PEO-2 communicate technical concepts effectively
  in both written documents and oral presentations.
• PEO-3 design and analyze software at the
  component, subsystem, and software architecture
  levels and make informed, sound software design
  tradeoffs.
• PEO-4Understand the social and ethical issues
  that arise in their work and deal with them
  professionally.
• PEO-5 Understand the importance of all phases of
  the software lifecycle, with emphasis on the need
  to plan for change and continuously vie to
  improve the software process.
• PEO-6 work effectively in a software development
  team and with other engineering professionals.
• PEO-7 appreciate the need for lifelong learning
  and adapt to rapid technological changes

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BS-SE Outcomes (ABET 2000)

• Engineering programs must demonstrate that their
  graduates have
• a) An ability to apply knowledge of
  mathematics, science and engineering
• An ability to design and construct experiments,
  as well as to analyze and interpret data
• And ability to design a system, component or
  process to meet desired needs
• d) An ability to function on interdisciplinary
  teams
• An ability to identify, formulate and solve
  engineering problems
• An understanding of professional and ethical
  responsibility
• An ability to communicate effectively
• The broad education necessary to understand the
  impact of engineering in a global and societal
  context
• A recognition of the need for, and an ability to
  engage in life-long learning
• A knowledge of contemporary issues
• An ability to use the techniques, skills and
  modern engineering tools necessary for
  engineering practice

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BS-SE Outcomes (SE-Specific)

• se1 Ability to analyze software systems.
• se2 Ability to design software systems.
• se3 Ability to verify software systems.
• se4 Ability to validate software systems.
• se5 Ability to implement software systems.
• se6 Ability to apply software systems.
• se7 Ability to maintain software systems.
• se8 Ability to appropriately apply discrete
  mathematics to complex
• software systems.
• se9 Ability to appropriately apply probability
  and statistics to complex
• software systems.
• se10 Ability to appropriately apply relevant
  topics in Computer Science
• and supporting disciplines to complex
  software systems.
• se11 Ability to work in one or more significant
  application domains.

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Objectives to outcomes mapping
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BS-SE Revisions

• Added CS 4381 Software Project Planning and
  Management to the required core classes for the
  BS-SE
• Changed the CS 4385 - Software Project class from
  three to four credit hours (becoming SE 4485)
• Added a Guided Elective to the degree
  requirements (3 hrs)
• Reduced the free elective requirement from 15 to
  12 hours
• Used 2 or 3 guided electives to implement some
  application domains (per SE-specific ABET
  requirements)
• A new Information Assurance application domain
  added
• Embedded systems application domain revised
• SE 4340 (Computer Architecture) class changed to
  SE3340.
• Focus on industrial projects for the Senior
  Design Experience (SE 4485)
• 3390 3354 made co-requisites
• These changes increased the degree requirements
  from 120 hours to 124 and strengthened the
  engineering/design content of the degree.

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CS/SE Assessmt. Proc.

• CLOs designed for each course (put in syllabus of
  each course)
• Outcomes measured (in-class self assessment) end
  of course
• Improvements to be made decided upon
• Implemented in the next offering of the course
• The course coordinator collects individual
  instructor input consolidates the suggested
  improvements and shares with course instructors
  and program heads ABET/SACS Day held
• Significant issues exposed taken to the
  curriculum committee
• Curriculum committee (CC) recommendations taken
  to faculty
• Faculty deliberates and approves/disapproves
  recommendations recommendations made by CC may
  be modified
• Program admin. implement the recommendations
• Process repeats

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Curriculum Updates

• Minor in CS added
• Minor in information assurance added
• Certificate in information assurance added
• 2 New classes added (digital forensics, data
  app. Security).
• Particularly targeted to folks who already have
  a BS in CS and want to acquire knowledge in IA.
• CS 4485 (Senior Design Class added)
• CS 4375 (Machine Learning) added
• CS 4395 (Computer Game Prog.) being added
• CS 1336-1337 textbook changed to accommodate ATEC
  students
• CS 2336 being made even more project-oriented

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2006 In-class Assessment

• Educational objectives for each class measured by
  instructors each semester.
• Started in Summer 2002, several adjustments over
  the past years
• The process for collecting data is quite
  streamlined (folders placed in faculty mailroom).
• The data collected has been used for making
  revisions discussed earlier.
• Also being done for graduate courses due to SACS
  visit in 2007/2008.

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Self Assessment
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Exit Survey
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Alumni survey
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a-k outcomes
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SE-1 to SE-11
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Exit Survey
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Alumni Survey