Transcript Capstone Design and ABET Program Outcomes in the U. S.

Capstone Design and ABET Program
Outcomes in the U. S.
Paul H. King, Ph.D., P.E.
Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Vanderbilt University
Overview
• The role of ABET in the US
• Design & ABET, from the instructor’s
viewpoint
• “Impact Analysis” of design and ABET
• Design & ABET, from a Program Evaluator’s
viewpoint
The role of ABET in the US
• … was Accreditation Board for Engineering
and Technology
• … has expanded in scope
• … is a engineering and technology specialty
area accreditation agency, now advising
worldwide.
• … is therefore the primary US based US
engineering education QA agency.
The Accreditation Process
• Request for evaluation, payment of fees
• Generation of documents re: School and upper
level support (libraries, salaries, etc.)
• Generation of program specific documents
regarding curriculum distribution, course content,
quality control methodologies, outcome
measurements, objectives of the program, etc.
• One school document and one document per
program to be evaluated will be mailed to
evaluators 2-4 months prior to visit.
Accreditation, continued
• Program evaluator(s) selected, material sent,
correspondence as necessary…
• Course and outcome notebooks generated, ready
for review (future stress on outcomes!)
• … Fall on site visit by evaluator teams &
chairman, lab and facility visits, meetings with
students, deans,
• Exit material documentation & discussion
• Revisions if needed, final decisions by early
summer. Six year term generally, …
Design & ABET: Instructor’s View
•
•
•
•
VU: 1991, 3 hours, required, ABET planned
-> 1997 3+3 (of 127)
-> 2003 2+1, 3
Overall goal: “ prepared for engineering
practice … major design experience based
upon the knowledge and skills acquired in
earlier course work.”
• Lectures on design, then ~ 6 months project
General ABET List:
• a – k outcomes must be documented:
• a = “ability to apply knowledge of
mathematics, science and engineering’
• b = “ability to design & conduct experiments
…”
• c = “ability to design a system, component, …”
• …
• k = “ability to use the techniques, …”
Design Documentation for ABET
• As with all courses, representative
documentation of student output from the
design course was collected and placed into
notebooks for our evaluator.
• Selected material was then extracted and
placed into notebooks summarizing a-k
outcomes.
• Each course was summarized regarding topical
material stressed re: a-k (2 pages.)
2007 Course & Outcome Books:
13 a-k => 19 notebooks,
top 2 shelves
27 Course books, 4 of
which are design, the only
multi-book collection,
bottom 3 shelves
BME 272-273 Design of Biomedical Engineering Devices and Systems I & II
Outcomes
A
Topics
B1
Apply
Design &
Math,
conduct
Science,
experiment
Engineerin
s
g Principles
B2
C
D
E
F
G1
G2
H
Identify, Understand
Analyze
Design
Function on formulate,s professional Written
Oral
and
system/com
Broadly
multidiscipli
olve
and ethical communicat communicat
educated
interpret ponent/proc
nary teams Engineering responsibilit
ion
ion
data
ess
Problems
y
I
J
K
Knowledge
Need for
Use in
of
life-long
engineering
contempora
learning
practice
ry issues
BME 272
Intro, Def's, Basics
L
Career Overview
L
Safety, reliability
L
H
Licensure,consulting
QA/QI
L
L
Regs & Standards
M
M
M
M
H
L
H
L
L
L
H
H
M
L
L
M
L
M
Risk/safety
M
L
M
M
L
M
L
L
L
L
L
Databases
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
H
L
L
M
L
H
L
L
H
L
L
L
L
H
H
Product specification
L
M
M
Requirements, Liability
L
Intellectual Property
Human Factors
L
H
H
L
M
L
L
L
M
L
H
L
H
Software design, metrics
Design Project-Fall
M
L
L
H
H
L
Design Project -Spr
M
L
M
H
H
M
L
H
H
M
M
M
M
SUMMARY
M
L
L
H*
H*
H*
M*
M
M
L
M
M
M
BME 273
BME 297 Senior Engineering Design Seminar
Outcomes
A
Topics
Intellectual
property &
patents
Risk
assessment
and reduction
Reliability and
testing
Contracts
Teams and
team
development
Workplace
safety
Safety
Human factors
Manufacturing
Career Issues
Ethics
SUMMARY
B1
B2
C
D
E
F
G1
G2
H
I
J
K
Understa
Apply
Identify,
Function
nd
Knowledg
Math, Design & Analyze Design
formulate,
Use in
on
professio Written
Oral
Need for
e of
Science, conduct
and
system/c
solve
Broadly
engineeri
multidisci
nal and communi communi
life-long contempo
educated
Engineeri experime interpret omponent
Engineeri
ng
cation
cation
learning
plinary
ethical
rary
nts
data
/process
practice
ng
ng
teams
issues
responsib
Principles
Problems
ility
M
M
M
H
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
H
H
M
H
M
M
H
H
M
L
M
L
M
M
H
H
M
Impact Analysis for Required BME Courses at Vanderbilt University
Course Name
Introductory Biomechanics
Biomedical Materials
Biomedical Instrumentation
Analysis of Biomedical Data
Physiological Transport Phenomena
Systems Physiology I
Systems Physiology II
Biomedical Engineering Laboratory
Senior Design
Coverage (%)
Intensity
# terms, yr
Impact
92
16
1, So
15
85
20
1, So
17
92
21
1, Jr
19
92
18
1, Jr
17
100
24
1, Jr
24
70
18
1, Jr
13
38
10
1, Jr
4
54
19
1, Sr
10
100
29
2, Sr
58
Coverage = % non-blank lines of a-k coverage (prior slides)
Intensity = sum of non-blank lines (H=3)
“Impact” = coverage * intensity * # of semesters
=>> Design is critical to the ABET process!!!
Design from an Evaluator’s
perspective:
• Do all possible pre-visit documentation.
• For a new program: look at the design
documentation first, does it fit the criteria?
Continue next with other documentation.
• For an established program, generally look for
uniqueness and strengths first, design will not
generally be a stumbling block.
Recent Developments - ABET
“The program shall demonstrate that those
faculty members teaching courses that are
primarily design in content are qualified to
teach the subject matter by virtue of
education and experience or professional
licensure.” 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 (8 of 28
programs)
Conclusion:
• Senior design is a critical portion of the overall
ABET evaluation of the outcomes of a
program.
• While Biomedical Engineering is the example
given here, this should generally be tru of all
curricula.
• ABET is stressing this fact with the
requirement of licensure for several programs.
Questions?
• Thanks -