A Performance Indicator Model for the Assessment of Program Outcomes

The accreditation bodies like NBA and NAAC instructs all Institutes to define Course Outcomes (COs) and Program Outcomes (POs) and their assessment methodology for the effective implementation of Outcome Based Education (OBE). Due to lack of experience and maturity in this domain, most of the Institutes struggle in defining these methodologies and procedures. The curriculum design, the teaching learning processes and the assessment procedures have to be well defined so that OBE can be implemented effectively across the Institute for all programs. This research article presents some of the best practices adopted at our Institute for institutionalizing the OBE processes. A systematic and scientific approach for fixing the CO/PO targets and CO/PO attainment calculation have been evolved and discussed with samples in this paper. The case study has been presented to provide guidelines and better insights to the readers for the effective implementation of OBE. Keywords: Course Outcomes, Program Outcomes, Assessment of Course Outcomes, Assessment of Program Outcomes, Continuous Improvement

Outcome-based education (OBE) has become a necessity to make our engineering graduates employable and globally acceptable. OBE is an educational theory that bases each part of an educational system around goals (outcomes). It is expected that after graduation, each student should have achieved the basic purpose of education i.e. necessary skills to work in his/her area of specialization/interest. The assessment is crucial factor in the OBE, as the success of OBE lies in the continuous assessment of the goals and implementing the changes based on the feedback of assessment. This paper discusses the Course Outcomes and its importance in the assessment of Program Outcomes and Program Education Objectives. The authors have presented a case study of Course Outcome assessment and attainment method implemented in their own institute. The course outcome assessment method along with direct assessment and indirect assessment tools, with the detail mathematical calculations is explained with the example values. The results of Course Outcome attainment are used by the staff members for the attainment of POs, PEOs and for improving the overall teaching learning process.

Outcome Based Education (OBE) is the key essential part of educational organizations. Outcome based education system is an important step for the accreditation. OBE puts focus on student-centered approach. This paper is an attempt to provide the framework to automate the attainment process using the assessment and mapping data of Program Outcomes (POs) and Course Outcomes (COs) retrieved from indirect assessment tools. There are various types of surveys like alumni survey, course embedded survey and industrial survey. A survey is conducted to check the level of satisfaction of student with regard to teaching learning process. The questions of survey are being mapped with COs and subsequently with POs. Then different questions are asked by the teacher to the students. In this way data is obtained for further calculations. Here after, with the help of calculations, attainment levels of the COs are calculated which is further used in the calculations of the POs. Then in the end attainment of different POs are obtained. Furthermore, computed attainment are used for prediction using Weka tool and corresponding to that different classes are associated with that data. In this way, one can improve the performance of the students by looking at the different values in all the courses and hence it leads to the overall development of the students. Eventually, the values which are obtained in the data mining table, can be used as a further step for different suggestions which leads to the overall development of OBE.

Abstract: Outcome Based Education (OBE) is an approach in the field of engineering education, accepted in recent years all over the world. Output in terms of Cumulative Grade Points Average (CGPA), pass percentage, etc. has been the traditional measurement in education whereas outcome focuses on the level of transformation and achievement in the student. Every institution endeavours to fulfil its mission through its programs which constitute courses and learning activities. The program objectives guide to form the program outcomes, which need to align with universally accepted graduate attributes. These are mapped to the course outcomes whose knowledge levels can be guided by Blooms Taxonomy. Achievement of program objectives can be judged only through the attainment of program outcomes which are indicated by the attainment of the outcomes of the courses which constitute the program. Therefore, assessment tools and attainment methods for the course outcomes and program outcomes are required to indicate the level of transformation at each level. This paper presents a methodology to calculate the attainment of course outcomes and program outcomes and provides the recommended threshold values to identify the extent of desired transformation in a student after a teaching learning process. Awareness and implementation of these assessment methods with systematic review of thresholds and consequent course correction measures can have a profound impact on student success and mission accomplishments of institutions. Keywords: Assessment, Attainment, Course Outcomes, Program Outcomes, Outcome Based Education, Blooms Taxonomy

This paper describes the outcome based education (OBE) implementation and continuous quality improvement (CQI) process plan in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya. The implementation of CQI plan is a part of the Outcome – based Education (OBE) approach required by the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) for recognition of Biomedical Engineering program and as a graduate student for Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM) and Institute of Engineer Malaysia (IEM) membership registration. This approach was first introduced to Biomedical Engineering Department since 2005. The measurement on Programme Outcomes (POs) which will be evaluated upon graduation is done based on the results of sub-Programme Outcome (subPOs) which are evaluated at the end of each course. The improvement on assessment and evaluation process are continuously done to obtain the better achievement of POs and programme educational objectives (PEO)s in the department of Biomedical Engineering.

The assessment of program outcomes for ABET accreditation has become a challenge for engineering programs nationwide. Various methods and approaches have been investigated to develop good practices for program assessment. At South Dakota State University (SDSU), an approach called Faculty Course Assessment Reports (FCAR) has been explored for mechanical engineering (ME) program assessment. FCAR provides an assessment tool to correlate the ME program outcomes with the outcomes of the core ME courses, and to evaluate student performance at the course level based on ABET outcome criterion. This process begins with the development of course objectives and outcomes. Then these course objectives and outcomes are directly mapped with the ME program objectives and outcomes respectively. Further the quantitative and qualitative details generated in the FCAR are lined up directly to ABET program outcome a to k criterion through FCAR rubrics. By use of the FCAR process, all ME program outcomes are evaluated at the course level based on the ABET program outcomes. The assessment results are being used for improvement of the ME curriculum. The process was developed to provide an effective tool for the ME program outcome assessment at the course level with reasonable effort.

The Mechanical Engineering Technology program of Purdue University at Columbus/Southeast Indiana is a small program with only two full-time faculty and typically has 4-8 graduates per year. In preparing for its first ever ABET accreditation evaluation in the fall of 2005, the faculty conducted a survey of graduates from the last three years and received nine responses. Such a small response contributed to the concern that this method of assessment might not provide much useful data regarding assessment of program outcomes and objectives. As a result of this and limited resources, the faculty of the MET program in Columbus focused their efforts on direct assessment of program outcomes by using classroom assignments, lab reports and exam questions. An example of an embedded assessment utilized by the MET faculty is a laboratory report. The Mechanical Engineering Technology program consists of many classes that have laboratory activities. The rubric used for lab reports is a fifteen part rubric that varies from 1 to 4. Lab reports are assessed for spelling/grammar, participation, calculations, appearance, analysis, summary, conclusions and drawings/diagrams among other categories. Assessments can be made of technical content (program outcome (PO 1), verbal communications including both written content and graphical communications (PO 3), experimental understanding and teamwork. While these assessments are useful for gauging learning and are used in the MET program continuous quality improvement process, they also make grading considerably easier. A two-page form was also developed which summarized the assessment points for each program outcome. The first page of the form includes the mission statements of Purdue University, the MET program objectives, the MET program outcomes, the core learning objectives of the particular course in which the assessment is performed and the details of the assessment point. These details include the specific core learning objective, the applicable program outcome and the rubric for the assessment. The second page of the form includes the results of the assessment, those teaching techniques that the faculty member wants to retain and those that he wants to change.

Outcome based education (OBE) has been adapted in major education institutions particularly in engineering education. This has been used extensively since the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has made it mandatory for program accreditation. The OBE focusses on outcomes of the program rather than curriculum framed for the courses. Outcomes may refer to the knowledge or Skill gained, competency and employability of the graduates of the program. In order to achieve this outcome, the syllabus has to be carefully and meticulously planned with scope for continuous improvement. In the Department of Electronics and Communication, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, We have adopted the OBE system. This paper aims to provide the evaluation process in our department to measure the outcomes. For each course, the course outcomes (COs) are methodically articulated keeping the focus on Program outcomes (POs) that are defined by the NBA

Since 1950s, Malaysian education system has already developed and has been practiced the Outcome Based Education (OBE) approach especially in Higher Education. It is a compulsory requirement for obtaining the accreditation by the local accreditation body [6]. To fulfill the requirement, Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) need to adopt and implement the OBE approach in all programs offered. One of the important steps in OBE that should be done is assessment of Course Outcome (CO and program outcome (PO), they should be assessed and analyzed to see the achievement of CO and PO as expected. To do that, each CO must be linkages to PO. MIIT has been develop an computerized system as required to linking, assessing the achievement of COs and POs, the system will simplify the assessment process to encourage the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI).

The Outcome Based Education (OBE) has been one of the major concern of most academic institutions in India, especially among engineering colleges since the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) has made it compulsory towards program accreditation. However, the concept of OBE resulted to various attainment to Programme Outcome (PO) based on the Course Outcome (CO). Execution of the OBE may not be an easy matter as the mapping of the CO for each assessment may be mapped to multiple PO. This paper describe the analysis process of the CO and PO attainment for Design and Analysis of Algorithms subject, which is offered to 2nd year students of Computer Science and Engineering, SR Engineering College, Warangal. Two methods are incorporated, (1) direct measurement, and (2) segregated measurement. The study identified that segregated measurement are more sensitive towards identifying the issues which affect attainment of CO and PO. Issues related to non-fulfillment of either CO or PO for Design and Analysis of Algorithms subject can be traced to lack of awareness towards Problem Analysis and Complexity of Algorithms and student's attitude towards subject knowledge.

: Globally, engineering education is revolutionizing through the Outcome Based Education (OBE) model. To achieve accreditation under the requirements of the Washington Accord, the Program Outcome attainment has become a focal point in the Engineering field. Attempts to introduce a new OBE-based curriculum in the Universities of Bangladesh have faced many challenges for teaching staff and students. One of the crucial tasks is to achieve the defined Program Outcomes (POs) through Course Outcomes (COs). In this paper, an intermediate relationship between POs and COs is proposed. A case study and analysis of the proposed Intermediate Indicator to attain Cognitive Domain Program Outcomes has been presented to verify the efficiency and effectiveness of the methodology. Results clearly demonstrate that the Intermediate Indicator is essential to attaining program outcomes through course outcomes. Keywords : Outcome Based Education; Engineering Education; Program Outcome; Course Outcome; Program Outcome Indicator.

Continual Quality Improvement Process for Undergraduate Programs

Topic objective and outcome: performance indicators in knowledge transfer through in-depth curriculum content analysis

An important consideration in higher education is that graduates meet or exceed the program outcomes (POs). While there exists anecdotal evidence that the use of modern tools i.e. computer modelling and simulation, improve attainment of these outcomes, there is little empirical research available. Where empirical evidence is available, the variables considered would almost certainly have a bearing on the outcomes. In this work, the attainment of the POs by undergraduate engineering students in courses with and without the use of modern tools, based on quantitative data, were compared. It was hypothesized that courses using modern tools would lead to better overall attainment of POs, compared to courses not using these tools. As a case study, the PO attainment of students in the Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) was considered. Quantitative data obtained through UTP's outcomebased education (OBE) software was used to assess the overall attainment of the POs for all courses for a cohort of 126 Mechanical Engineering undergraduate students class of 2017. It was found that, for the case study considered, the usage of modern tools has led to slightly better attainment of some POs, with slightly poorer attainment in other POs. Specifically, attainment in POs where the cognitive or the knowledge domain is more dominant improved, as the usage of modern tools helped students to understand theoretical concepts better. Attainment in POs were the affective domain is more dominant recorded a slight decrease, and the incorporation of modern tools did not aid in the attainment of these POs. The study is at a preliminary stage and a more detailed study, involving more cohorts, is planned to establish a correlation (if any) between the use of modern tools in higher education and attainment of POs.

In Outcome-Based Education approach, Programme Outcomes (PO) is a series of technical and non-technical skills that a graduate from an institution should acquire prior to graduation. The qualities in the PO are usually closely related to the training that the student has gone through. The attainment of PO must be tracked at every semester and corrective actions must be implemented if the attainment does not meet the performance criterion that has been set. This implies a need for a continuous quality improvement (CQI) process for PO attainment. This paper presents the analysis of PO achievement based on student's achievement in formal assessments for core subjects in the Bachelor of Electrical Power Engineering (BEPE) and Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (BEEE) programmes in UNITEN for four semesters from Semester 1, 2007/2008 to Semester 2, 2008/2009. In general, all POs are attained by both programmes. However, it was observed that with the current performance criteria a decline in soft skills PO achievement was observed. Hence, a new PO attainment strategy was devised and a new performance criterion has been set. This paper aims to highlight the CQI processes in place to analyze the BEPE and BEEE Programme Outcomes attainment.