PROGRAM SELF STUDY REPORT MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY. Engineering Accreditation Commission

Transcription

1 PROGRAM SELF STUDY REPORT and APPENDIX I MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Submitted By MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY to the Engineering Accreditation Commission November 2003 Ankara, Turkey

2 Table of Contents Page Table of Contents List of Figures. List of Tables.. i iii iv A. Background Information 1. Degree Titles Program Modes Actions to Correct Previous Shortcomings 2 4. Contact Information... 3 B. Accreditation Summary 1. Students Program Educational Objectives Professional Component Faculty Facilities Institutional Support and Financial Resources Program Criteria. 72 Appendix I Additional Program Information A. Tabular Data for Program Table I-1 Basic Level Curriculum. I-A-1 Table I-2 Course and Section Size Summary... I-A-5 Table I-3 Faculty Workload Summary. I-A-9 Table I-4 Faculty Analysis I-A-12 Table I-5 Support Expenditures I-A-15 i

3 Page B. Course Syllabi Departmental Course Syllabi Non-Departmental Course Syllabi I-B-1 I-B-134 C. Faculty Resumes.. I-C-1 D. Supplementary Material Supplement I-1 Development of the METU ME Mission Statement and the Program Objectives... I-D-1 Supplement I-2 A History of ABET 2000 Preparation Process... I-D-9 Supplement I-3 Course Worksheet Form... I-D-14 Supplement I-4a ME 210 Course Worksheet I-D-15 Supplement I-4b ME 302 Course Worksheet I-D-19 Supplement I-5 Relations Between ME Courses and PEOs I-D-22 Supplement I-6 Relations Between ME Courses and POs.. I-D-24 Supplement I-7 Relations Between ME Courses and ABET Criteria 3 and 8 (ME Program Requirements)... I-D-27 Supplement I-8a Assessment of ME I-D-31 Supplement I-8b Assessment of ME I-D-37 Supplement I-9 Employer Survey Form.. I-D-39 Supplement I-10 Exit Survey Form... I-D-40 Supplement I-11a ME 210 Course Student Exit Survey Form... I-D-41 Supplement I-11b ME 302 Course Student Exit Survey Form... I-D-43 Supplement I-12 Instruction Evaluation System... I-D-44 Supplement I-13 Course Equivalency Form. I-D-46 ii

4 List of Figures Figure 2.1 Continuous Improvement of METU ME Educational Program. 17 Page Figure 2.2 Average Percentages of the References to each PEO in the ME Curriculum. 18 Figure 2.3 Average Scores of the Employer Survey.. 19 Figure 3.1 Average Percentages of the References to each PO in the ME Curriculum 23 Figure 3.2 Average Percentages of the References to Each Requirement of ABET Criteria 3 (a-k) and 8 (ME program requirements, l-o) in the ME Curriculum.. 24 Figure 3.3 Average Scores of the Exit Survey iii

5 List of Tables Page Table 1.1 Number of Admitted Students and the Ranking of the Student with the Lowest ÖSS Score... 6 Table 1.2 Some Statistical Facts About METU ME Class of Table 1.3 Transfer and Double Major Students... 9 Table 2.1 Relations Between POs and PEOs Table 3.1 Relations Between POs and ABET Criteria 3 and Table 5.1 Faculty Teaching Breakdown 44 Table 5.2 Faculty Research Breakdown Table 6.1 Classrooms of the Department. 49 iv

6 A. Background Information 1. Degree Titles The Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department of the Middle East Technical University (METU) awards the degree of Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Mechanical Engineering. The curriculum is designed to prepare students for professional career by developing a sound base in fundamental engineering sciences. The program is intended to develop individual initiative, creativity, talent, leadership and the capability to develop, follow and adopt new technologies in the field of Mechanical Engineering. A variety of courses covering basic and specialized subjects in Thermal and Fluid Sciences, Energy Systems, Applied Mechanics, Design and Production, Theory of Machines and Control Systems are offered. The lectures are supplemented by tutorials, use of computers, and experimental work in various laboratories. The ME Department also offers Double Major Program for the undergraduate students of other department in the university. The double major program consists of all courses in the undergraduate curriculum and the equivalencies of the courses are determined by the department. There are several Minor Programs offered in the Faculty of Engineering. The Minor Program on Mechatronics is offered by the Faculty of Engineering for the engineering undergraduate students. Mostly mechanical engineering students and electrical and electronics engineering students are enrolled in this program. The main purpose of this program is to provide successful and motivated students with a broad knowledge of mechatronics that will enable them to practice their profession in an interdisciplinary manner. The Minor Program on Production is offered by the ME Department for the undergraduate students of other departments. The purpose of this minor program is to give the interested and successful students a general view of production technology, with the belief that they will perform better in their own discipline, having acquired a wider scope of knowledge and a different perspective. There are nineteen other Minor Programs in the Faculty of Engineering that the mechanical engineering students can join. These are listed in Appendix II. Currently 1

7 preparations for Bioengineering Minor Program having Biomechanics, Bioelectrical Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering and Tissue Engineering tracks are being made. The undergraduate program in ME was evaluated by ABET in 1996 and judged to be substantially equivalent to similarly named accredited programs in the U.S.A. In addition to the undergraduate programs, the Department offers graduate programs to qualified students for further education and research at advanced level, leading to the degree of Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Mechanical Engineering. 2. Program Modes The ME program is offered through daytime classes during fall and spring semesters. Some courses are also offered during summer semesters but not on regular bases. 3. Actions to Correct Previous Deficiencies a) Related to the general education area of the curriculum, a new course ENG 311 Advanced Communication Skills, was added to the curriculum. This course has 3 credits and aims at developing communication skills in a business context. b) The interaction between the several engineering departments have been enhanced in different ways. A minor program in the cross disciplinary field of mechatronics was added and about 10 ME students enroll in this program each year. At the same time ME 461 Mechatronic Components and Instrumentation and ME 461 Mechatronic Design are included to the technical elective course list of the ME curriculum. Also a minor program in bioengineering has been developed by the Faculty of Engineering which is presently at the University Senate approval stage. ME Department will be involved in supporting the Biomechanics track of this program. In addition, ME Department participated in a pilot program in the present semester, where senior year design projects are offered jointly with different departments in interdisciplinary areas. Furthermore, as a result of a recent strategic planning study, the Faculty Academic Board has decreed that every department must allocate one of its technical electives in 2

8 its curriculum to a technical elective course offered by other departments. ME Department will implement this rule starting from academic year. c) In general, the laboratories, classrooms and offices of the department are sufficiently equipped. The maintenance, repair, upgrading and replacement of the laboratory, classroom and office equipment are made using the annual funds allocated for these purposes by the faculty to the department and using the University Research Funds. The University Research Funds are utilized both for supporting new research activities of the faculty members and for the maintenance and replacement of the laboratory equipment used in the undergraduate programs. These activities are also supported by the funds from tuition and fees of regular semesters and summer schools as well as funds from the Faculty Development Program (ÖYP). d) Regarding laboratory safety, the students are introduced with the general laboratory safety rules in ME 200 Mechanical Engineering Orientation and ME 202 Manufacturing Technologies courses. The regulations about individual laboratories are distributed to the students in the related courses, and rules which are specific to individual set-ups are posted in the laboratories. Regular maintenance of the electrical system and the machinery is done during the semester breaks. 4. Contact Information Professor S. Kemal Bder Chairman Mechanical Engineering Department Middle East Technical University Ankara, Turkey kider@metu.edu.tr 3

9 B. Accreditation Summary 1. Students 1.1. Introduction Recognizing the fact that the quality and performance of the students and graduates are important considerations in the evaluation of an engineering program, Criterion 1 of ABET requires that the institution must evaluate, advise and monitor students to determine its success in meeting program educational objectives (PEOs). PEOs of METU ME Department are discussed in section 2 of this self study report. The primary tool for achieving PEOs is the curriculum. The extra-curricular activities and the general academic and social environment in the university and in the department also help in attaining the PEOs. Each course in the curriculum contributes to a certain extent in attaining the PEOs as demonstrated in section 2. (Sample course worksheets are given in Supplement I-3, the relations between the ME courses and the PEOs as obtained from course worksheets are displayed in Supplement I-5 and average percentages of references in the course worksheets of the ME curriculum to the PEOs are shown in Figure 2.2) Hence the primary means of evaluation of the success in meeting program objectives are the grades obtained in the courses. It is then natural that most advising and monitoring activity is also based on the success of the students in individual courses and on the whole program. Detailed explanations regarding evaluation, advising and monitoring students are given in section 1.2 of this report. Recognizing the importance of the quality of incoming students, admission to ME Program is also addressed. METU ME Program Outcomes (PO) which are discussed in section 3 are also linked to the METU ME PEOs as the indicators to show how METU ME graduates gain the background knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for reaching these PEOs (The relations between POs and PEOs are depicted in Table 2.1). Success in achieving POs is also primarily reflected in 4

10 the grades of the graduating class, however, upon graduation, students are also given an exit survey (Supplement I-10) through which they evaluate their success in achieving the POs. This survey is actually based on ABET Criterion 3 (a-k) to which ME program outcomes are closely related as discussed in section 3. These survey results can also be regarded as an indirect indicator of a possible success in meeting PEOs. A favorable rating in achieving POs would indicate a high potential for graduates successfully meeting PEOs. Criterion 1 further requires that the institution must have and enforce policies for the acceptance of transfer students and validation of courses taken for credit elsewhere. These are discussed in section 1.3. Section 1.4 addresses the procedures that the ME Department uses, to assure that all the students meet all program requirements Student Admission, Evaluation, Advising and Monitoring Admission: Key to the quality and performance of students in any educational program is the admission or selection process through which they enter the program. METU ME Department admits top quality students through the Student Selection Examination (ÖSS), a very competitive nationwide examination, scores of which are used for the selection and placement of students to individual programs of all universities by the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM), a nationwide institution. About a million and half students take this examination each year and only those within approximately first 3000 become eligible to enroll in METU ME Program. A vast majority of students in the department are admitted through this process. A very limited number of students, each being the top ranked in their high schools are also admitted with a somewhat lower score through a 2% enrollment quota reserved for them. Number of students admitted through this process in recent years and the ranking of the students among those admitted to the department with the lowest score in ÖSS, are given in Table

11 Table 1.1 Number of Admitted Students and the Ranking of the Student with the Lowest ÖSS Score Year Number of Students Lowest Ranking Other students are admitted to the program through; Foreign Student Examination (YÖS), (About 8 students with non-turkish nationality every year) Transfers from other departments / universities Double Major Program Nationwide placement of top ranked graduates of 2 year Technical Vocational Schools through an examination administered by (ÖSYM) Transfer and double major student numbers of the last three years are given in Table 1.3. As revealed by a recent SWOT analysis, the high quality of the student body is regarded as one of the most important strengths of the department. Some statistical facts about the class of 2003 are given in Table 1.2. Table 1.2 Some Statistical Facts about METU ME Class of 2003 Number of graduates (Boys / Girls) 190 (172/18) Average CGPA 2.78 Highest CGPA 3.96 Average time of study 9.0 semesters Evaluation, Advising and Monitoring: As already stated in the introduction, student evaluation is done on the basis of their success in the courses they take. Instructors keep records of students grades and let the students know their achievements and grades as the semester progresses. (At the end of the semesters, course 6

12 and instructor evaluation questionnaires shown in Supplement I-12 are filled by the students where this point is also rated.) At the end of a semester, grade distribution statistics for all the courses are sent to department chairs by the Registrar s Office, so that the department chairman can monitor how the students are performing in individual courses and evaluate the general performance of the department. While the instructors evaluate students performances in individual courses, academic advisors are in a position to monitor the overall progress of individual students. Each student admitted to the department is assigned an academic advisor and usually this advisor does not change until graduation. METU ME Department has a Student Affairs Office with two support personnel, in which a separate file is kept for each student (both on paper and electronically). These files contain all the educational records of the students. They are updated every semester and an up-to-date follow-up form is distributed to the advisors prior to registration periods. Each advisor has about 25 students and because of the large number of students in the department some senior teaching assistants are also assigned as advisors in addition to full time faculty members. Students must obtain their advisors approval for the courses they take each semester. Without the advisor approval, the registration process which is done interactively through student affairs information system on the internet can not be completed. Hence the advisors can see whether or not a student is making progress towards completing program requirements on a timely basis and they can warn the student when necessary. The online registration system with many built-in checks regarding program requirements also assists the students and advisors in registrations. In fact students transcripts and follow-up records are accessible by the whole faculty through the online Student Affairs Information System (maintained by the Registrar), and that facilitates monitoring students. Advising of double major students and ME students who are double majoring in other departments is given great care since their course load is significantly heavier than the other students. All such students in the department are advised by a single faculty member, currently by Prof. Bülent E. Platin. Similarly all transfer students are advised by another faculty member, currently Prof. Rüknettin Oskay. 7

13 The students can also seek advice from the Students Affair Office of the Department where two full time staff (Bedrettin Aydemir and Latif Karaçar), are employed. Traditionally a vicechairman of the department, (currently Prof. Suha Oral) deals with student affairs. He advises students on matters where student s own advisor could not provide adequate counsel and supervises the work of the Student Affairs Office of the Department. For special requests such as taking leave-of-absence etc., students can petition to the Department Chair. These petitions are evaluated and the necessary action is taken. If the request is beyond the jurisdiction of the Department, the petition is forwarded to the Faculty of Engineering, with a suggested course of action. All the correspondence is kept in students files. Students can also apply to the Registrar s Office to obtain information regarding academic rules and regulations Transfer Students Acceptance of Transfer Students: The following procedure is applied for the acceptance of transfer and double major students. All necessary dates are indicated on the academic calendar of the university. The Faculty of Engineering asks the departments, the number of transfer students they are willing to admit for the coming semester. The Executive Board of the Faculty of Engineering finalizes the quotas and announces them along with the necessary conditions and credentials for application. Applications are made to the Registrar s Office, where the credentials are checked. Then the applications are sent to the Faculty of Engineering. A weighted score is calculated for each applicant by considering his/her CGPA and ÖSS score. The applicants for each department are sorted according to these scores. The sorted list of applicants along with their application documents are sent to the Department Chairs for their review. Departments review these documents and send the 8

14 list of students they are willing to admit back to the Faculty of Engineering. They also prepare Course Equivalency Forms for the transfer of credits. Executive Board of the Faculty of Engineering makes a final review of the lists sent by the departments and announces the results. Transfer students who are graduates of 2-year vocational technical schools are admitted through a national examination which is organized by ÖSYM. Students who are placed in our department give a petition for the transfer of credits. The numbers of students admitted according to these procedures within the last few academic years are given in Table 1.3. Table 1.3 Transfer and Double Major Students Year Transfers Transfers from Double Majors Total Vocational Schools Validation of credits for courses taken elsewhere: As indicated in the previous section, the Department Chairman reviews the transcripts of transfer students and prepares course equivalency forms for the transfer of credits. On these forms, the courses taken elsewhere and their equivalents in ME program are indicated. These forms are subject to the approval of the Executive Board of the Faculty of Engineering and are finalized there. Afterwards, the necessary information is forwarded to the Registrar and the student s records are updated. Copies of the course equivalency forms are kept in the students file in the department and also by the student advisor. Most students admitted through transfer come from other departments within the Faculty of Engineering at the end of the freshman year. Since many of the courses (such as freshman 9

15 Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, English etc.) that they take are the same as those of ME majors the credits are directly transferred. For courses taken at other institutions, there are many precedents establishing course equivalencies, hence department chairs can easily prepare the course equivalency forms. For courses taken in other departments of METU and approved to fulfill ME program requirements, credits and grades are transferred to student s ME program and they appear on the transcripts of the students as if taken in the ME program. These grades and credits are used in calculating CGPA of the student. For courses taken in another institution, if an equivalency is set, an exemption is granted for the course that is supposed to be taken in ME program. For such courses grades and credits are not taken into account in the calculation of CGPA. For exchange students, who earned credits at an institution with which METU has an Exchange Student Agreement, transfer of credits and grades is done like transfer of credits within METU. Occasionally, some students apply for other course replacements (i.e. replacement of a course required in ME program with a course taken elsewhere) by writing a petition to Department Chair (such situations arise, for example, when an ME major takes a course in his/her minor program and wants it to be considered as an elective course to meet an ME program requirement or when an ME major takes a course in some other institution as a special student etc.). Such requests are processed by considering the precedents in the department and they are subjected to the general terms and conditions issued by the Registrar, regarding course replacement. The final authority in approving course replacements belongs to the Faculty of Engineering. In preparing the course equivalency forms the Department Chair may consult with undergraduate education committee (UEC), a board consisting of (currently) ten faculty members. A sample course equivalency form is given in Supplement I

16 1.4. Procedures to Check Satisfaction of Program Requirements METU ME program is given in Table I-1. In order to graduate, all the students must complete this program (a total of 145 credits) with a CGPA of at least Transfer students might have course replacements or exemptions as discussed above. Checking the satisfaction of program requirements is a two tier process, run by the Registrar and ME Student Affairs Office. Towards the end of each semester, the Registrar issues the list of the students who are in graduation status. This list is sent to departments Student Affairs Offices for their confirmation. Upon receiving this list, Student Affairs Office reviews the files of the students and makes sure that these students fulfill all the program requirements by the end of that semester. After the final examinations and submission of grades (electronically) the list is finalized, and graduated students are given B.S. degree. Records of double major students are kept by their advisor, hence his confirmation is asked by ME Student Affairs Office, regarding the graduation of these students. 11

17 2. Program Educational Objectives 2.1. Mission Statement and Program Educational Objectives The mission of METU ME Department is to educate individuals to become creative, inquisitive and productive in both national and international arenas, instilled with global knowledge and abilities, and able to be leaders and pioneers in their field, to perform research and development activities that will contribute to science and national technologies, to lead and to pioneer in related fields. In order to accomplish this mission, the following program educational objectives (PEOs) for the undergraduate program have been established: The graduates of the B.S. program of the METU Mechanical Engineering Department are engineering professionals who PEO-I. are sought in areas of new technology and/or product development, being innovative and entrepreneurial individuals with leadership and pioneering abilities in professional areas, PEO-II. identify and solve engineering problems using a scientific approach with their sound engineering base, life-long learning habits, command of advanced technology, and research abilities, PEO-III. seek rational solutions in their professional practice while considering their social, environmental, economical, and ethical dimensions. PEOs are consistent with the mission of METU: Deleted: The Middle East Technical University is devoted to the pursuit and application of knowledge for the social, cultural, economic, scientific and technological development of 12

18 our society and mankind through achievements in teaching, research and community service that are of highest international standards. PEOs are also consistent with the mission of METU Faculty of Engineering: Deleted: The Faculty of Engineering of METU educates engineers and researchers with universal qualifications, who can fulfill the needs and expectations of, and play a leadership role in the advancement of industry and society. The Faculty of Engineering advances engineering science and technology through research, and contributes to the application of the created knowledge and technology to benefit mankind. PEOs are the statements that describe the expected accomplishments of ME graduates in their professional lives during the first several years following graduation. The success of the program requires the contribution and continuous improvement of various components which are students, faculty members, undergraduate curriculum, facilities, institutional support and financial resources. The ABET EC 2000 encompass these components. An indirect relation exists between PEOs and Criteria 3 and 8 of ABET EC 2000 through the ME program outcomes (POs). POs are the qualities (knowledge, skill and behavior) that the students are expected to possess at the time of their graduation. POs are developed such that each of them serves towards the achievement of one or more PEOs. As explained in section 3, fourteen POs have been developed in ME. Table 2.1 presents the relations between PEOs and POs. Although POs have been developed independently from the ABET EC 2000, they are consistent with the requirements of Criteria 3 and 8. Table 3.1 presents the relations between POs and the ABET Criteria 3 and Constituents of the METU Mechanical Engineering Program The most significant constituents of ME undergraduate program are the students, faculty, alumni and employers. ME faculty are responsible for developing, implementing, assessing and revising the curriculum, which is the primary tool towards reaching PEOs. The alumni and employers of ME graduates are the main external constituents that are necessary for the assessment of ME program. Deleted: objective ( outside da olabilir) 13

19 Table 2.1 Relations Between POs and PEOs PO PEO I II III In 1999, a comprehensive self-assessment study has been initiated towards the implementation of a continuous improvement system in ME Department. As explained in section 2.3, the current department mission as well as PEOs have arisen as a result of these efforts. The process involved the participation and input from the program constituents, who, in addition to the four major constituents, are Deleted: Since Deleted: arised faculty members from other departments within and outside METU representatives from the Higher Education Council of Turkey (YÖK) as well as national research institutions such as Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBBTAK) and Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV) representatives from relevant major industrial companies Formatted: Bullets and Numbering Deleted: industry 14

20 ME graduate students Parents of ME students 2.3. Processes Used to Establish and Review Program Educational Objectives The mission of the department has been established during the course of self-assessment studies that started in The process involved the organization of a search conference with the participation of various ME constituents. Prior to the search conference, departmental study groups were formed to perform a preliminary study on the strong and weak aspects of the department, proposals for improvement and the department mission statement. The results of these studies were then discussed in the search conference. The mission statement was formulated and approved within the department following the search conference. Four departmental working groups were formed in the areas of education, research and development, human resources, and administration and communication. These groups worked towards developing departmental objectives and goals in the assigned areas based on the mission statement. The final form of departmental objectives and goals were established and adopted at an ME faculty meeting on June 22, A comprehensive history of this process is given in Supplement I-1. PEOs were developed by the ABET Working Group (AWG) as statements derived from the mission statement, through the use of the departmental objectives and goals for the undergraduate education. An account of this process is given in Supplement I-2. For continuous improvement of ME program, PEOs need to be evaluated periodically. The evaluation process involves inputs from and participation of the program constituents in two periodic cycles. The short-term cycle involves the assessment of POs through the constituents. The results of this assessment are used for the revision of the program and/or POs as necessary. The results of the PO assessment are used as an input for the review of PEOs along with data from the constituents. Since the PEOs address the accomplishments of the ME graduates in their professional lives, the input of the external constituents, e.g. the employer / alumni surveys, plays the major role in the evaluation of PEOs. The achievement of POs is a necessary condition for achieving PEOs. Hence the results of PO assessments can be considered as one of the tools for the assessment of PEOs. Although the data collection for Deleted: if 15

21 assessment of PEOs is a continuous process, the formal review, assessment and revision (if necessary) of PEOs will be undertaken every few years (4-6 years). The review process is depicted in Figure Ensuring Achievement of Program Educational Objectives through Program Curriculum and Departmental Processes ME undergraduate program curriculum is the main tool to achieve PEOs. For a continuous improvement process, the relevance of the courses to PEOs must be quantified. For this purpose, a course-by-course assessment system is used. This approach is based on measuring the level at which individual course objectives are satisfied. In Spring 2003, a process has been initiated in which the level of success in each course is related to the level at which the course serves towards the achievement of PEOs. In this process, the faculty members are asked to report the objectives of the courses they teach along with the corresponding course student learning outcomes (SLOs). A particular course objective is considered to be achieved if the corresponding SLOs are achieved. These SLOs are course specific and the faculty are asked to relate each SLO to PEOs, POs and ABET Criteria 3 and 8. The faculty are also asked to indicate whether the relations are strong (S) or weak (W). The results of this analysis for PEOs are presented in Supplement I-5 and Figure 2.2. In Figure 2.2, the weighted averages of references by SLOs per PEO are indicated. An immediate outcome of this analysis is that PEO-II is emphasized more than PEO-I and III in the ME undergraduate curriculum. Apart from the assessment results for POs based on course evaluations and student and faculty surveys, the major consideration in the evaluation of PEOs is the inputs of the external constituents which are alumni / employer surveys and meetings and discussions with alumni, employers and representatives from industry. In 1999, an employer survey was conducted as part of a long term assessment process. The survey addressed ABET Criterion 3 requirements. The survey form is given in Supplement I-9. The results of this survey can be considered as 16

22 institution mission statement of departmental mission and PEOs LONG- TERM REVIEW CYCLE statement of POs towards the achievement of PEOs development of strategies towards reaching POs evaluation and assessment of PEOs evaluation and assessment of program outcomes SHORT- TERM REVIEW CYCLE determination of assessment processes for POs input from constituents for the assessment of PEOs input from internal constituents for the assessment of POs determination of metrics for evaluating the level of success in reaching POs Figure 2.1. Continuous Improvement of METU Mechanical Engineering Educational Program 17

23 an assessment of PEOs since the employers naturally take into account the performance of the ME graduates in their professional lives and since PEOs are consistent with ABET Criterion 3 requirements as demonstrated in Tables 2.1 and 3.1. The number of participants in this survey was 28. The results shown in Figure 2.3 indicate that the employers are quite satisfied with the capabilities of ME graduates in all aspects. ME Department has formed an Evaluation and Assessment Committee (EAC) whose job is to gather data from the constituents, develop alternative assessment techniques and propose recommendations to improve the program. In this context, one of the tasks of the committee will be to prepare a new employer and alumni surveys based on PEOs. 13% 15% PEO I PEO II PEO III 72% Figure 2.2 Average percentages of the references to each PEO in the ME curriculum 18

24 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 Strongly agree : 4 Agree : 3 Disagree : 2 Strongly disagree : 1 No opinion : 0 1 Questions 1-11: Criterion 3 requirements (a-k) 0, Figure 2.3 Average scores of the employer survey 19

25 3. Program Outcomes and Assessment 3.1. Program Outcomes METU ME Department has set forth the following POs in order to achieve PEOs: A graduating METU ME student will have the following qualities: PO 1. Ability to establish the relationship between mathematics, basic sciences and engineering sciences with engineering applications PO 2. Ability to find and interpret information PO 3. Ability to follow the literature and technology related to his/her topic of interest PO 4. Recognition of the need to keep oneself up to date in his/her profession PO 5. Possession of written and oral communication skills PO 6. Ability to conduct team work (within the discipline, inter-disciplinary, multidisciplinary) PO 7. Ability to produce original solutions PO 8. Use of scientific methodology in approaching and producing solutions to engineering problems and needs PO 9. Openness to all that is new PO 10. Ability to conduct experiments PO 11. Ability to do engineering design PO 12. Awareness of engineering ethics, knowledge and adoption of its fundamental elements PO 13. Ability to take societal, environmental and economical considerations into account in professional activities PO 14. Possession of pioneering and leadership characteristics in areas related to the profession. POs represent necessary conditions for the achievement of PEOs. Each PO serves to establish the necessary background in the graduates to reach one or more PEO. Although POs were developed independently from the ABET Criterion 3, they encompass these criteria fully. The 20

26 relations between POs and PEOs were previously presented in Table 2.1. The relations between POs and ABET Criteria 3 and 8 can be seen in Table Processes to Produce and Assess Program Outcomes Like PEOs, POs also arose as a result of self-assessment studies in the department that was initiated in A history of this process is presented in Section 2.3 and Supplement I-1. The Education Study Group, which was formed in the department during this process defined the educational goals of ME program. POs have been adopted based on these goals. Details of the development process of POs can be found in Supplement I-2. Table 3.1 Relations Between POs and ABET Criteria 3 and 8 ABET Criterion 8 ABET Criterion 3 (ME Program PO Criterion) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o)

27 The POs list certain qualities (knowledge, skill and behavior) that the students are expected to attain by the time of their graduation. The main tool to achieve POs is the ME curriculum. Therefore, the department has undertaken the assessment of the curriculum on a course-bycourse basis by the participation of every faculty member. The faculty members are asked to prepare course worksheets in which specific course objectives are stated along with strategies, expected student learning outcomes (SLOs) and assesment methods for the SLOs of each course objective. At the same time, each student outcome is to be related to PEOs, POs and ABET Criteria 3 and 8. Based on these course worksheets, the relevance of each course to the PEOs has already been given in Supplement I-5 and Figure 2.2 in section 2. The relation of each course to the POs is presented in Supplement I-6 and Figure 3.1 based on the number of referrals by each SLO. Similarly, the relation of each course to the ABET Criteria 3 and 8 are presented in Supplement I-7 and Figure 3.2. A copy of the course worksheets is given in Supplement I-3. Examples of completed course worksheets are presented in Supplement I-4a,b for ME 210 Applied Mathematics for Mechanical Engineers and ME 302 Theory of Machines II, respectively. AWG prepared the format of the course worksheets based on the faculty workbook by the Gateway Coalition [1]. The faculty members were briefed about how to complete the course worksheets in accordance with Reference [2] during several ME faculty meetings and through an informative note distributed to the faculty members. The assessment of POs through a course-by-course assessment of the curriculum is an indirect process. In this enterprise, the assessed entities are the SLOs. That is, a specific course objective is considered to be reached if the relevant expected SLOs have been achieved by implementing the corresponding strategies. Here, the level of achievement is set by the instructor. Thus, on a course-by-course basis, the level at which each PO has been achieved is measured by the level at which the relevant SLOs have been achieved. This process has begun recently and pilot studies were carried out in Spring Examples of assessment results are given in Supplement I-8a,b for ME 210 Applied Mathematics for Mechanical Engineers and ME 302 Theory of Machines II, respectively. 22

28 % Reference PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6 PO7 PO8 PO9 PO10 PO11 PO12 PO13 PO14 Figure 3.1 Average percentages of the references to each PO in the ME curriculum 23

29 25 ABET Criterion 3 (a-k) ABET Criterion 8 (ME Program Requirements l-o) %Reference a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Figure 3.2 Average percentages of the references to each requirement of ABET Criteria 3 (a-k) and 8 (ME program requirements, l-o) in the ME curriculum. 24

30 In addition, exit surveys are conducted on the graduating students for the assessment of the quality of the program. They include specific references to ABET Criterion 3. A copy of the survey questions can be seen in Supplement I-10. The results of this survey are regarded as another indicator of the level of success in meeting POs which are related to the ABET Criteria through Table 3.1. Student surveys will also be conducted at the end of each course for the specific SLOs of the course in consideration. Examples of the course student exit survey forms are given in Supplement I-11a,b for ME 210 Applied Mathematics for Mechanical Engineers and ME 302 Theory of Machines-II, respectively. In addition, there is a student survey for course and instructor evaluation, conducted by the university for each course. The survey form is given in Supplement I-12. The results of this evaluation are declared to the course instructor as well as to the department chair. This survey emphasizes instructor performance and the general aspects of the course rather than the topic based specific questions in the former. It is believed that high teaching effectiveness and high student satisfaction would indicate a good level of achievement of POs. Employer surveys can also be used as an assessment tool for POs when the engineers evaluated by the employers are at the start of their professional lives. The employer survey form used in 1999 is shown in Supplement I-9. In the future employer surveys, a distinction will be made among different experience levels Data Collection and Evaluation The most important quantitative data for course-by-course outcome assessment are the grades of the students. The measurement tools consisting of examination and homework questions, projects reports and all the material which are graded during the semester are to be reviewed by the instructors with the purpose of associating the measurement tools with the SLO they are intending to assess. Then a weighted average of the grades collected for the measurement tools reflect the level of achievement of the SLO. Success in achieving SLOs correlates to success in achieving POs since they are related. In this process, instructors are developing their own metrics to assess their achievement of SLOs. These learning outcomes are related to 25

31 POs as shown in Supplement I-6 and I-7. Hence the achievement of POs are based on SLO achievement metrics. Pilot studies were performed in Spring Sample results of course SLO assessments are presented in Supplement I-8a,b. The course student exit surveys are to be given at the end of each semester, beginning with Fall 2003 semester. These surveys will be used to measure SLOs directly for each course. Another source of quantitative data is the student exit survey. This survey is run by the Faculty of Engineering in all engineering departments. Students opinions regarding how successfully they have achieved ABET Criterion 3 (a-k) are asked. These surveys have been made in 1998, 1999, 2002 and The survey form is given in Supplement I-10 and the results of the survey can be seen in Figure 3.3. A high level of achievement is observed in all outcome requirements. The employer/alumni surveys are undertaken every few years. The employer survey conducted in 1999 addresses ABET Criterion 3 requirements and considers METU mechanical engineers from different experience levels. Hence the results of this survey can also be considered in assessing POs to a certain extent. The survey form and the survey results are given in Supplement I-9 and Figure 2.3, respectively. The results reveal that the levels of achievement of all outcome requirements are quite high. However, comparatively, the strongest points of the graduates were the ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering and the ability to use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice. The weakest point was the ability to communicate effectively. New employer surveys will be conducted by EAC. The last source of quantitative data gathered on a regular basis is course and instructor evaluation surveys given in Supplement I-12. These surveys are filled out by students for each course they take, at the end of each semester. The process is university wide. The results of these surveys reflect the teaching effectiveness of the instructors and students satisfaction with the courses. 26

32 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 Strongly agree : 4 Agree : 3 Disagree : 2 Strongly Disagree : 1 No opinion : Questions 1-11: Criterion 3 requirements (a-k) 0,5 0 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Figure 3.3 Average scores of the exit survey 27

33 3.4. Process for Program Development and Improvement ABET Criterion 3 requires that there should be ongoing processes by which the assessment results are applied to further develop and improve the program. The tools for program development and improvement in ME Department are: Employer / Alumni surveys and meetings Analysis of course worksheets Course assessments The search conference conducted in 1999 revealed that ME graduates need to improve written and oral communication skills in English and to have more experience in using commercial software packages. Similar results have also been obtained in the 1999 employer survey as mentioned above. As a result of these feedback, Eng 311 Advanced Communication Skills and IS 100 Introduction to Information Technologies and Applications courses have been included in the ME curriculum. Furthermore, considering the requests from both ME students and faculty, and the feedback from the external constituents, new elective courses have been added to the ME curriculum. Most recently added courses are ME 461 Mechatronic Components and Instrumentation, ME 462 Mechatronic Design and ME 448 Fundamentals of Micro Electromechanical Systems. The analyses of course worksheets and course assessments are particularly useful in updating the current contents of the courses. The analyses of the course worksheets show that the present contents of ME courses address all of the POs, PEOs and ABET Criteria 3 and 8. In addition, the course assessments are expected to show the unforeseen difficulties of students in learning the course materials. It should also be mentioned that there are periodic reviews of the curriculum in the tradition of ME Department. In this process, the proposals developed by undergraduate education committee (UEC) are discussed and finalized in the ME Faculty meetings. This process resulted in minor or major changes in the past. The last review that resulted in a major change was in In the current semester, UEC has decided to initiate another review of the 28

34 undergraduate program and will propose minor or major changes as necessary by taking into account the findings of EAC Materials That Will Be Available For Review During The Visit The materials, that will be available for review during the visit to demonstrate achievement of the Program Outcomes and Assessment are given below. Course files which include all midterm and final exam questions as well as homework assignments, quizzes, projects and all supplementary material that is disseminated to the students Sample graded exam papers, project reports, summer practice reports, lab reports, ME 407 (Capstone design project) reports, homework assignments, quizzes Prototypes manufactured in ME 407 Course worksheets detailing course objectives, strategies, SLOs and assessment methods Course assessment results prepared by the instructors of the courses for Fall 2003 Course exit student surveys for Fall 2003 Exit student surveys Grade statistics for each course Instructor and course evaluation survey results 3.6. References 1. Gateway Coalition, Faculty Workbook: Preparing For ABET 2000 Defining Course Objectives, Strategies, Outcomes and Assessment Methods, Designing and Teaching Courses to Satisfy the ABET Engineering Criteria, R. M. Felder and R. Brent, Journal of Engineering Education, January 2003, Vol. 92, No. 1, pp

35 4. Professional Component The curriculum of the ME Undergraduate Program meets the requirements of the program s educational objectives and ABET. The undergraduate program aims to give the student mathematics and basic science courses in the first year, mainly engineering science courses in the second year, courses that basically are related to mechanical engineering areas in the third year, and mechanical engineering specific application courses as technical electives in the fourth year together with a capstone design course and a capstone laboratory course. The ME Department undergraduate program leading to the B.S. degree in ME is given in Table I-1 of Appendix I.A, which categorizes the course credit hours into mathematics & basic sciences, engineering topics including both engineering science and engineering design, general education, and other. The program contains 46 courses with credit, six of which are technical electives, two are non-technical electives and one is a free elective. Course Syllabi of the courses offered in the undergraduate curriculum can be found in Appendix I.B. The program also includes two non-credit Turkish language courses, two non-credit history courses, one non-credit information technology introduction course, one non-credit orientation course and two non-credit summer practices. A minimum of 145 credit-hours is required for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Mathematics and Basic Science The ME curriculum includes 33.5 credit hours (23%) of mathematics and basic sciences. In the first year, students complete most of the mathematics, physics, and chemistry courses that provide the fundamental knowledge applied in engineering: MATH 157 Calculus I (4 credits) MATH 158 Calculus II (4 credits) PHYS 105 General Physics I (4 credits) PHYS 106 General Physics II (4 credits) 30

36 CHEM 107 General Chemistry I (4 credits) The remaining mathematics courses are given in the second and third year: MATH 253 Ordinary Differential Equations (3 credits) ME 210 Applied Mathematics for Mechanical Engineers (3 credits) ME 310 Numerical Methods (3 credits) At the beginning of the ME 410 Mechanical Engineering Systems Laboratory course (3 credits of which 1 credit is Mathematics & Basic Science), students are lectured on presentation of experimental results, data plotting, curve fitting, error treatment, uncertainty, probability distributions, significance tests, combination of uncertainties for a duration of 20 hours in the first two weeks of the semester Engineering Topics The ME curriculum includes 81.5 credit hours (56%) of engineering topics. Therefore, the majority of the compulsory courses in the ME curriculum are under the engineering topics category. Students start taking the engineering fundamental courses and ME core courses in the second year: ME 202 Manufacturing Technologies ME 203 Thermodynamics I ME 204 Thermodynamics II ME 205 Statics ME 206 Strength of Materials ME 208 Dynamics 31