ABET Criterion 3 Challenges and Opportunities

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ABET Criterion 3Challenges and Opportunities

• Wayne Bennett

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Challenges of Criterion 3

• Many A-K outcomes not in a single course
• Examples of multi-course activities
• Multi-discipline Teamwork
• Professionalism and Ethics
• Communication Skills
• Society Impact
• Life-long Learning
• Knowledge of Contemporary Issues
• Difficult to combine a-k activities

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Challenges of Criterion 3

• Difficult to provide text/materials
• May need to purchase two or more texts
• May not use a major portion of the materials
• Additional expense to the department
• ABET visitors more comfortable with standard
  materials
• Information drawn from a variety of sources

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Challenges of Criterion 3

• Student activity difficult to track
• Student work buried in other courses
• TIP Use color coding, e.g., Red Ethics
• Cant guarantee material covered every time
  course is offered
• Extra material not integral part of course
• Cant guarantee every student participated
• TIP Incorporate into Student Portfolios with a
  tab for each area of activity

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Challenges of Criterion 3

• Lack of traditional assessment measures
• Performance often subjective
• Problems with benchmarking
• Improvement difficult to quantify
• Faculty often uncomfortable with preparing,
  presenting and evaluating

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Summary Challenges of Criterion 3

• Many a-k outcomes not in a single course
• Difficult to provide text/materials
• Information drawn from a variety of sources
• Student activity difficult to track
• Lack of traditional assessment measures
• Faculty often uncomfortable with preparing,
  presenting and evaluating

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Opportunities in Criterion 3

• Develop and publish materials for A-K
• Use Web to provide materials
• Track student use
• Use Web to evaluate and document performance
• Track student performance and progress
• Document student participation
• Team with other departments at your institution
• Team through ECEDHA
• Use GradNet