Assessment Plan

Assessment Plan: M.S. in Engineering Education

After careful considerations and discussions, we have identified two critical core courses and the most important milestone that all students in our M.S. in Engineering Education program are required to complete. The two critical core courses include EED 6090 and EED 6150. The most important milestone is the Master’s Thesis Research (for Plan A students) or Master’s Research Project (for Plan B students).

EED 6090 Developing an Engineering Education Curriculum

This course reviews the basic principles and practices of curriculum development required for an engineering education curriculum. The emphasis of this course is placed on the integration of research findings and best practices into course design. This course directly addresses the following learning objective of the M.S. program:

LO1_MS: Create (e.g., design, develop, formulate) learning objectives and assessments relevant to those learning objectives

The faculty instructor who teaches EED 6090 provides a comprehensive assessment of student learning using a variety of method, such as homework assignments and exams. At the end of the course, each Master’s student is assigned a score of 1-5 representing the level of evidence that the student meets the above learning objective. The level of evidence is ranked from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the lowest level of evidence and 5 the highest level of evidence.

EED 6150 Teaching, Learning & Assessment in Engineering Education

This course provides an overview of the various methods used to measure and evaluate student achievement within the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains are covered. The principles of learning and assessment as it is applied to Engineering Education are also reviewed. This course directly addresses the following learning objective of the M.S. program:

LO2_MS: Understand (e.g., identify, classify, describe, explain) various methods to measure and evaluate student achievement within the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains

The faculty instructor who teaches EED 6150 provides a comprehensive assessment of student learning using a variety of method, such as homework assignments and exams. At the end of the course, each Master’s student is assigned a score of 1-5 representing the level of evidence that the student meets the above learning objective. The level of evidence is ranked from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the lowest level of evidence and 5 the highest level of evidence.

Master’s Thesis Research (for Plan A students) and Master’s Research Project (for Plan B students)

All students in our M.S. in Engineering Education (Plan A) program are required to complete a 6-credit Master’s Thesis Research that leads to a M.S. Thesis. All students in our M.S. in Engineering Education (Plan B) program are required to complete a 3-credit Master’s Research Project that leads to a Research Project Report. The Thesis and the Report typically consists of six chapters, including Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2 Review of Literature, Chapter 3 Research Methodology/Design, Chapter 4 Results, Chapter 5 Discussions, and Chapter 6 Conclusions/Significance/Implications.

Each chapter in the M.S. Thesis or Research Project Report is associated with at least one learning objective (LO3_MS, LO4_MS, and LO5_MS). The student’s Supervisory Committee, which consists of the student’s Major Professor and two other faculty members inside the Department, read and review the student’s Thesis or Research Project Report to determine the level of evidence that the student meets the learning objectives. The level of evidence is ranked from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the lowest level of evidence and 5 the highest level of evidence.

Each committee member assesses each chapter of the student’s Ph.D. Dissertation using the following rubric:

Learning Objectives (LO)	Level of Evidence Students Meet Each Learning Objective
LO3_MS: Synthesize issues (e.g., theories, ideas, research findings, conclusions, and recommendations) in writing	Low evidence High evidence 1 2 3 4 5
LO4_MS: Apply (in this context: use) principles and practices of research methodologies typically used in engineering education research	Low evidence High evidence 1 2 3 4 5
LO5_MS: Apply (e.g., use, implement, interpret) regulations, policies, statues, ethical issues, and guidelines that govern the conduct of research with human subjects	Low evidence High evidence 1 2 3 4 5

Learning Objectives (LO)

Level of Evidence Students Meet Each Learning Objective

LO3_MS: Synthesize issues (e.g., theories, ideas, research findings, conclusions, and recommendations) in writing

Low evidence High evidence

1 2 3 4 5

LO4_MS: Apply (in this context: use) principles and practices of research methodologies typically used in engineering education research

Low evidence High evidence

1 2 3 4 5

LO5_MS: Apply (e.g., use, implement, interpret) regulations, policies, statues, ethical issues, and guidelines that govern the conduct of research with human subjects

Low evidence High evidence

1 2 3 4 5

The average score (i.e., the level of evidence) is calculated based on all scores provided by all committee members on each learning objective.

NWCCU M.S. Program Student Learning Outcomes on the IDEA Curriculum Assessment Map

In addition to using two critical core courses and Master’s Thesis Research (for Plan A students) or Master’s Research Project (for Plan B students), we have developed the following table to illustrate how NWCCU M.S. program student learning outcomes are linked with the IDEA curriculum assessment for important graduate courses our faculty members teach. Utah State University has been using the IDEA system for student course evaluation each semester.

NWCCU M.S. Program Student Learning Outcome (LO_MS) Students will be able to:	Courses Involved	IDEA Learning Objectives	IDEA Curriculum Assessment, Assignment, and Artifact of Student Learning
LO1_MS: Create (e.g., design, develop, formulate) and/or evaluate (examine, interpret, critique) learning objectives and relevant assessments	EED 6090 EED 6150	Developing creative capacities (inventing, designing, writing, performing in art, music, drama, etc.)	EED 6090: Course project and project report EED 6150: In-class tests and developing a teaching portfolio
LO2_MS: Understand (e.g., identify, classify, describe, explain) various methods to measure and evaluate student achievement within the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains	EED 6090 EED 6150	Developing specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field most closely related to this course	EED 6090: Course project and project report and developing synchronous and asynchronous activities assignment EED 6150: In-class tests and developing a teaching portfolio

Note: The other three NWCCU M.S. Program Student Learning Outcomes (LO3_MS, LO4_MS, and LO5_MS) are assessed with student theses or project reports.

Graduate Alumni

Each year, we collect, update, and review relevant data regarding our graduate alumni. Since the inception of our M.S. program, 4 students have graduated from our M.S. program. All of them continued to enroll in our Ph.D. program.