Processes for determinining, evaluating, and improving objectives and outcomes

Constituencies: The main constituencies of the program are current students, alumni of the program, and representatives of industries who have hired our graduates in the past and are likely to do so in the future. Input from all of these constituencies is used in the process described below to determine and evaluate our objectives.

Processes for obtaining input from constituencies: Input from all of these constituencies is used in determining and revising our objectives and outcomes.

Current students:
- Student reps on UGSC and Curriculum Committee.
- Annual undergraduate forum and newsgroup discussions.
- Exit survey: Asks two sets of questions: first, the importance of each objective and outcome; second, to what degree the outcome was achieved for the particular student or to what degree the student has been prepared to achieve the objective.
  The results of the exit survey are discussed by UGSC.
Alumni: Annual alumni survey. This survey too asks about the importance of each objective and outcome and preparation with respect to each.
Results discussed by UGSC.
Employers: Annual survey of (potential) supervisors of our graduates. This has been discontinued because of relatively poor rates or return.
Other: Presentations to the department's Industrial Advisory Board.
(In the pipeline: Survey of supervisors of students in co-op/intern programs.)

Processes for reviewing objectives based on constituent input: The department's Undergraduate Studies Committee (UGSC), a standing committee of the faculty, and including student representatives and advisors from the Advising Office, initiates discussions on possible changes in the program objectives and outcomes, taking into account the inputs from the various constituencies. The meetings of the committee are announced in advance on student and faculty newsgroups and are open to all interested students and faculty. The agendas and minutes of the meetings are posted on the newsgroups. Proposals for changes in the objectives and outcomes are also presented to the Industrial Advisory Board for feedback from its members. Further discussions about and approval of proposed changes take place in the departmental faculty meetings. The current set of objectives and outcomes was adopted by the faculty in April 2004. This was a revised version of the previous set which itself was a revision of the original set of objectives and outcomes that had been adopted in early 1998. In each case, the revisions were arrived at following the processes described above, incorporating inputs from all constituents. In the case of the most recent revision, initial discussions were held in the Undergraduate Studies Committee meetings in the fall of 2003. Further discussions were held in a number of committee meetings during January/February 2004. The main questions were not only concerned with what changes to make based on our constitutent input but also to revise the statement of objectives and outcomes to use language that would be consistent with the recently revised EC 2000 language. The proposed changes were presented to the Advisory Board at its meeting of late January 2004. A final draft, for recommendation to the faculty for its approval, was decided upon by the committee at a meeting in early March 2004. The details of this version were posted on the departmental newsgroups, discussed by the faculty in one of its meetings in late April 2004, and approved at that meeting.