BS CSE Program:
   Objectives, Outcomes, Assessments, Evaluation, Program Improvements

A. Background

This page is intended both to document our efforts related to the assessment, evaluation,, and improvement of the BS-CSE program, as well as to help direct those efforts. It will help various constituents including students, alumni, current students, and employers of graduates of the program, and others, understand the growth and evolution of the program and the rationale behind the evolution. It is also expected to provide the documentation needed to show that the program meets the requirements of the ABET criteria. The EAC (Engineering Accreditation Commission) and CAC (Computing Accreditation Commission) Criteria are both available here. For faculty and students who may be unfamiliar with accreditation, this page provides some background information. Please send any comments, questions, or suggestions for improvements to this or any related pages to neelam AT cse.ohio-state.edu.

B. Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes

The ABET Criteria require the program to have published program educational objectives (PEOs) and student outcomes (SOs). PEOs, according to the definition used by ABET, specify the expected accomplishments of graduates of the program during the several years (3-4) following graduation. SOs, according to the definition used by ABET, are statements that describe what students are expected to know or be able to do by the time of graduation from the program. The PEOs should be determined and periodically reviewed/revised on the basis of constituent input. The SOs should be designed so that their achievement "fosters attainment of the PEOs". In addition, EAC Criterion 3 and CAC Criterion 3 each specifies a set of SOs that must be included in (or implied by) the program's SOs. The current set of PEOs and SOs for the BS-CSE program are available here.

C. Assessment, Evaluation, and Continuous Improvement

Assessment is defined by ABET as one or more processes that identify, collect, and prepare the data necessary for evaluation of the extent to which the various PEOs and SOs are attained. Evaluation is defined as one or more processes for interpreting the data acquired though the assessment processes in order to determine how well the PEOs and SOs are being attained and to help identify possible improvements in the program. In addition, the program is required to document the results of the assessments and evaluations as well as any resulting improvements in the program.

One important distinction is between direct and indirect assessments. Direct assessments are assessments of actual students' (or interns' or graduates') work made by people such as faculty (or internship supervisors) who are qualified to assess the work. Indirect assessments, on the other hand, are mainly based on opinions of students. Thus, for example, alumni surveys and student exit survey are indirect assessments whereas an exit test is a direct assessment. In general, direct assessments are much superior to indirect assessments since they are based on assessment of actual student work and hence the results are much likely to be an accurate reflection of actual achievement. ABET recommends the use of multiple assessments with a stress on direct assessments where possible/appropriate.

Improvements

  1. Tech group presentations and rubric (but offer this as an additional possibility, not one that everyone is doing).
  2. 682 talk on presentations
  3. 601 demo on being professional (in dress, mannerisms etc.) during presentations

A. Accreditation Criteria, Self-Study Questionnaires

  1. EAC Criteria for '05-'06;   Summary;   Changes since '99-'00.
  2. CAC Criteria ('05-'06) (pdf);  Guidance (pdf);  Summary;   Changes since '99-'00.
    (The guidance document is dated '01 but I couldn't find a more recent version.)
    Proposed CAC outcomes
  3. EAC self-study questionnaire (pdf)  (.doc)
    CAC (supplemental) questionnaire (pdf)  (.doc)
  4. ABET site
  5. Site visit
  6. Direct Assessment (Rubrics) (Model (pdf)).

B. Objectives and Outcomes

  1. Published Program Objectives and Outcomes
  2. Processes for determinining, evaluating, and improving objectives and outcomes
  3. Relation of curriculum to program outcomes and to EC 2000 Criterion 3 outcomes

C. Program Requirements, Course Syllabi

  1. Official BS CSE Program Brochure
  2. Official Syllabi of CSE Courses
  3. Descriptions of capstone design courses for BS-CSE majors
  4. Syllabi of ECE Courses required of BS-CSE students
  5. Other engineering courses required of BS-CSE students
  6. Syllabi of mathematics and statistics courses required of BS-CSE students
  7. Syllabi of science courses required of BS-CSE students
  8. Syllabi of writing courses required of BS-CSE students
  9. Development of oral communication skills

D. Assessment & Feedback Mechanisms, and Results

  1. Summary of assessment mechanisms used, processes, and program improvements: This is the main page of this section and should be read before consulting the next several documents for further information about results of various assessments.
  2. Exit Survey results (annual)    (combined)
  3. Alumni survey results (2008-'09) (Results from previous years)
  4. Manager/Supervisor survey results
  5. On-Campus Recruiter survey results: This has been discontinued since we were getting poor return rates for the survey; we are in the process of setting up a new mechanism that would survey supervisors of current students who are involved in co-op and internship programs.
  6. Undergraduate Forums
  7. Other feedback (from students, alumni, industrial advisory board, etc.)
  8. Survey of computing professionals: This survey instrument was created as a possible way to obtain feedback from members of our Industrial Advisory Board. After discussions within the department, it was decided not to implement this survey since it was felt that better feedback would be obtained in a face-to-face meeting with members of the board on an annual or bi-annual basis.
  9. Evaluation of capstone design courses: This page contains results of regular evaluations of each of the capstone design courses against the criteria that these courses must meet.
  10. Course Group Reports: Course Group Reports is a key assessment/feedback mechanism that we use to assess groups of related courses, identify possible improvements, and document and provide detailed rationale for changes in the particular courses. Detailed description of the mechanism as well as all course group reports are accessible from this page.
  11. Rubrics for evaluating communication skills and other "soft" outcomes.
  12. Results of direct assessments (see item 4 in that page).

E. Some Recent Improvements

Most of the improvements that have taken place in the program in the last several years are briefly summarized in item (D.1). Below, we consider a handful of recent improvements in somewhat greater detail; and in the next section we consider some other improvements in the pipeline (some of these have since been implemented).
  1. Changes in capstone course criteria
  2. New courses
  3. Changes in student evaluation of teaching
  4. Diversity program
  5. Advising office
  6. Software practitioners as full-time faculty

F. Improvements in the Pipeline

  1. Revised exit survey
  2. Communication skills
  3. Knowledge of Economics and Business principles
  4. Engineering GEC
  5. New course syllabus-related tool
  6. Alumni and current students get-together
  7. Changes in the CGRs
  8. Development of new honors courses

G. Accreditation Evaluation

  1. Reports (restricted access)

Other

  1. Undergraduate Studies Committee
  2. Curriculum Committee
  3. Teaching Excellence Statement (pdf) (postscript)