Individual Course Assessment As A Core Assessment Tool

Hyun Kim
2007 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings   unpublished
He has been teaching and developing courses and research projects in the fluid thermal area. He is a registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in Ohio and is currently conducting applied research in fluid power control and computational fluid dynamics with local industries. Dr. Kim received a B.S.E. degree from Seoul National University, a M.S.E. from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. from the Univ. of Toledo. Abstract The mechanical engineering program conducts assessment activities
more » ... gely based on the descriptions and timelines set up in the plan to foster excellence in engineering education. Some assessment activities, such as maintaining student portfolios, require an enormous amount of resources, expertise and time to fully implement and effectively utilize the assessment tools for evaluating students' academic performances. Like almost all small engineering programs faced with the full compliance of the ABET 2000 Criteria, the program decided to select a few assessment tools that can be effectively used and managed by a limited number of faculty and other resources. The Course Assessment is one of the core assessment tools that had been selected by the faculty eight years ago for specified courses and is now implemented in every mechanical engineering course. This tool is used to evaluate and improve students' academic performances at the same time. The evidence of the assessment activities is documented and filed by the instructor and used for further improvement in following semesters. This article documents the Course Assessment applied for a senior-level required course, MECH 4835 Thermal Fluid Applications, over a span of several years. A systematic and innovative course assessment has been conducted, which includes extra evaluations of students' performances, assessment surveys and reviews, reinforcement of selected course materials, and final review of assessment, in addition to regular examinations, homework, and design projects. The assessment activities have been received favorably by students. They felt that the activities helped them gain knowledge effectively and improved their learning curves significantly.
doi:10.18260/1-2--1933 fatcat:fxaqfdhzbjf4ljov5py5zl4sfa