| Title | Triangulation Data for Assessing Curricula |
|---|---|
| Faculty/College/Unit | Applied Science |
| Status | Completed |
| Duration | 3 Years |
| Initiation | 04/01/2010 |
| Funding Details | |
| Year 1: Project Title | Piloting the Assessment of Program Level Learning Outcomes in Civil Engineering via Course Design |
| Year 1: Project Year | Year 1 |
| Year 1: Funding Year | 2010/2011 |
| Year 1: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 1: Principal Investigator | Thomas Froese |
| Year 1: Funded Amount | 38,170 |
| Year 1: Team Members | Thomas Froese, Professor, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science |
| Year 1: Summary | As part of a major curriculum renewal effort, UBC Civil Engineering has developed comprehensive program level learning outcomes. This proposal seeks to develop our ability to assess these learning outcomes across the curriculum, focusing on piloting the assessment process as part of the course design for a new Integrated Project course. The hypothesis is that a curriculum that re-enforces cognition by integrative, psycho-motor, and attitudinal activities results in measurably higher levels of learning. To test this hypothesis, an integrative, action-based course will be introduced to a sub-set of the full 130 student cohort, and the learning of these students will be compared to the larger cohort. An assessment system will be developed to measure the student achievement toward the program level learning outcomes, for both the control and pilot group of students. The requested funds will be used to develop and deliver both the pilot course and the assessment system. |
| Year 2: Project Title | Assessing and Visualizing Engineering Curricula |
| Year 2: Project Year | Year 2 |
| Year 2: Funding Year | 2011/2012 |
| Year 2: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 2: Principal Investigator | Thomas Froese |
| Year 2: Funded Amount | 29,600 |
| Year 2: Team Members | Thomas Froese, Professor, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science |
| Year 2: Summary | This project is the 2nd stage of a TLEF-supported investigation into the hypothesis that curriculum design informed by foundational concepts of teaching and learning scholarship results in measurably higher levels of student learning. The pilot-scale curriculum assessment process developed and applied to a sub-set of both the Civil (CIVL) and the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) undergraduate programs during the previous TLEF period (i.e., Jan.- March 2011) will be tested, improved, and then used to test the hypothesis. Results of the test will be analyzed and reported to the SoTL and engineering education communities. A robust curriculum visualization tool will be developed and used to engage the CIVL and ECE learning communities in curricular improvements. All the activities proposed for this project augment and enhance significant investments in curriculum redevelopment being made in the Electrical, Computer, and Civil Engineering undergraduate programs. |
| Year 3: Project Year | Year 3 |
| Year 3: Funding Year | 2013/2014 |
| Year 3: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 3: Principal Investigator | Susan Nesbit |
| Year 3: Funded Amount | 29,840 |
| Year 3: Team Members | Susan Nesbit, Senior Instructor, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science |
| Year 3: Summary | Both the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Civil Engineering (CIVL) have developed Program Learning Goals (a.k.a. PLOs) for the professional programs they offer to students. With TLEF support (2010-2011, 2011-2012), both departments have also developed frameworks for curriculum assessment and both have developed a pilot protocol that has successfully tested the frameworks. The successful completion of this previous work has enabled the departments to assess the curriculum from the faculty perspective. The project proposed here will augment this previous work with data collected from both students and professional engineering practitioners. Collecting and synthesizing these data sets will provide an assessment of the engineering curricula from three essential perspectives. This triangulated assessment will inform subsequent curriculum renewal decisions. |