Evaluation of engineering program elements by doctoral candidates in student assessment and program evaluation

Engineering Criteria 2000 requires faculty to define objectives for engineering programs, define and implement assessment processes to measure student knowledge and skill, and identify processes where feedback is used to achieve continuous quality improvement of instruction and learning. As part of the preparation for an accreditation visit under the new criteria, faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Idaho partnered with doctoral students in the Assessment and Evaluation Center at Washington State University to review the technical elective component of the undergraduate curriculum. This paper describes the process undertaken by the clients and evaluators in designing, implementing, and conducting the evaluation.