Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University

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Electrical and Computer Engineeringat Carnegie
Mellon University

• Ed Schlesinger
• Professor and Head
• ed_at_ece.cmu.edu

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ECE Dept Overview People

• ECE includes over 900 individuals
• 91 Faculty Members
• 49 tenure-track
• 5 research/teaching
• 6 special
• 28 courtesy
• 3 adjunct
• 80 Staff members (technical and non-technical)
• 446 undergraduate students (not incl. Freshmen)
• 316 graduate students (M.S. and Ph. D.)

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ECE Focus Areas

• Computer Systems
• Computer and Network Security
• Wireless and Broadband Networking
• Embedded Systems
• Signal, Image, Video Processing
• Information Storage Systems
• Integrated Circuit Design, Manufacturing
  Testing
• Microelectromechanical Systems
• Nano-enabled Technologies
• ABET Visit took place Fall 2006.

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Assessment Feedback Loops
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Assessment Tools
Advisory Board Advising Survey Alumni
Survey Capstone Design Course Review Capstone
Design Student Assessment Course Change
Assessments EBI Survey
Employer Survey Enrollment Tracking Faculty
Course Evaluations Graduating Student
Survey Student Organizations Student Curriculum
Surveys Town Meetings
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Guiding Philosophy

• Are we doing this just for ABET or is there
  independent value?
• Lowers cost
• Ensures follow through
• Faculty buy-in
• Minimizes ABET-only activities
• Holistic approach tell the whole story to all our
  constituencies including ABET not just
  ABET-centric activities

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Resource Allocation

• Department Head and Associate Department Head
• Standing Committee
• Program Assessment Committee
• Three Faculty Members
• Undergraduate Program Staff
• Educational Program Assistant
• Assistant for Undergraduate Education
• Additional Staff
• Director of Alumni and Student Relations
• Web team
• Statistical analysis (temporary hire)
• Students
• Student organizations

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Example 1 Tracking

• Tracking of student choices in our curriculum.
• What are the trends?
• What we offer affects trends but what are the
  other drivers?

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Example 2 Course Change Assessment

• The Course Change Assessments are assessments by
  the faculty of changes made in individual
  courses.
• Current web-based version of the Course Change
  Assessments was implemented in fall 2005. This
  tool provides a record of the Program Outcomes
  most affected by course changes.
• Provides a permanent archive of course changes,
  the reasons the changes have been made, and
  assessments of their effectiveness.
• The Course Change Assessments entries for all
  courses are available for review by all faculty
  members on the Department web site.

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Example 2 Course Change Assessment
Useful for faculty
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Example 3 Student Statistical Survey

• Students respond to survey (27 questions) related
  to program outcomes each year.
• Student identities are confidential but coded so
  that for each student the courses taken to that
  point are captured along with responses.
• Analysis tool developed to analyze whether a
  statistically significant change in response
  occurs after completing a particular course.

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Example 3 Capstone Design Course

• Some student answers consistent with expectations
  (e.g. I can communicate effectively)
• Others surprising (e.g. I have the ability to
  engage in lifelong learning)
• Yet others no statistical difference (e.g. I am
  able to formulate and analyze problems and
  synthesize solutions based on my knowledge and
  intuition)
• There is value in understanding why. (e.g.
  dropped individual projects as Capstone design
  experience added direct assessment of
  students/projects).

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Summary

• Does all this have a cost?
• Does it have benefit in terms of program
  improvement?
• Would we do ALL of this if not for ABET?
• Is it worth the cost?
• What is the goal of the ABET effort for different
  institutions?