(282a) Experiences Obtaining Program Assessment Data From Capstone Design Projects

Capstone design
courses and related project work should present excellent opportunities for
program assessment.  This is well recognized
by many programs as evidenced by the use of capstone design projects in program
assessment plans.  The question then becomes
how to acquire the data desired without the process becoming too
burdensome.  During this presentation, a
description of the current capstone design course sequence at Kansas State
University will be described along with an explanation of how these courses are
employed in program assessment.  The
current process evaluates the design projects while simultaneously providing
data for assessing student outcomes.  The
rubric utilized in grading capstone design reports will be presented as well as
how aspects of these data are subsequently incorporated into the assessment of
specific student outcomes.

Obviously programs
vary in their approach to assessment and in how their design courses are integrated
into their respective assessment activities. 
During the presentation, alternative approaches to obtaining assessment data
from design courses will be outlined. 
Example rubrics that have been employed at other institutions will be
presented supporting their approach to assessing student outcomes.  The examples considered will be from diverse
institutions and programs to provide a broader perspective and hopefully to
stimulate creative approaches meeting the needs of different situations.

The intended outcomes for this presentation are that participants will
gain (1) an introduction to several alternate rubrics for design project
evaluation and/or student outcome assessment through design projects, (2) a exposure
to one example in which a rubric for evaluating engineering design projects has
been employed simultaneously for both project evaluation and program
assessment, and (3) insight into integration of design project evaluation and
program assessment.