professionalism & quality: what accreditation offers engineering
TRANSCRIPT
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote 1
Professionalism and Quality:
What can accreditation offer
Engineering?
Stephen Frezza, Ph. D., C.S.D.P.
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Engineering
Engineering employs principles of science,
mathematics and design for a practical
purpose.
These skills include developing and
managing the economic, legal, and
political constraints of the particular
challenge.
Mann Report, 1918
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Engineering Education
Preparing Students to become
Technically-skilled
Effective practitioners
Dualistic goals
Balancing these goals is our ‘particular
challenge’ as educators
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Technical Ability?
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As educators, we are to teach the essential
technical abilities…
Fundamental knowledge…
of what?
That is determined…
by whom?
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Technical Skills…
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Defining Engineering Skills:
The Moving Target
Discipline-specific…
Shifts with developments in industry and
society…
Must support new, emerging (sub)
disciplines
Constantly changing…
Who is the expert?
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Effective Practitioners?
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As educators, we are to model and help
students become effective practitioners …
Fundamental Behaviors…
for doing what?
That is determined…
by whom?
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Effective Professionals
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Technically-prepared engineers with
personal qualities:
Common sense
Integrity & Tact
Resourcefulness & Initiative
Thoroughness, accuracy & efficiency
Understanding of people
Mann Report, 1918
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Professionalism
Acting in a professional manner when carrying
out your duties of employment.
For Engineers… might be:
Organization
Level headedness
Thoroughness
Dedication
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Attentiveness to
details
Promptness
Taking pride in
their profession
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Becoming… An EngineerDuality between expected knowledge and
behavior
What is the right answer?
What should students know…
What should they be able to do?
Where do we find a useful answer?
Ourselves?
Employers?
Elsewhere?
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Professionalism for Faculty
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Our Particular Challenge:
Preparing Students to become
Technically-skilled professionals
Effective practicing engineers
In a manner that models the skills and behavior we
want in our graduates
…a process design problem
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design 101
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Production Metaphor – an incomplete model
Useful for management and improvement
Then A Miracle Occurs
Our Program
T.A.M.O.
What my students might come up with…
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design 102
Understand the inputs
Understand the expected outputs
Design the series of activity to convert
the inputs to the desired outputs
Understand the controls that make the
process go wrong
Re-design the process so it detects
issues and continues to work
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Educational Process Design
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Design ‘Educational System’ to produce
effective engineering graduates:
System with quality attributes like…
Organized, Thorough, Attentive to
details
Designed, Validated, with attention to
the requirements
What are our requirements sources?
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements:
Needed: minimum quality standards for
content and process for engineering
education programs:
Appropriate Discipline-Specific
Technical Content
Effective Educational Practice
Effective Educational Process
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design Exercise
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Goal: Produce an engineering graduate who is:
technically skilled
prepared to be an effective practitioner
Stakeholders: List Several
Key Process Indicators: list ways that you know:
Students are technically skilled
Students are professionally effective
TAMO
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements 101:
StakeholdersStudents: The ‘inputs’ to the process
Employers: Value/evaluate graduates’
effectiveness
Profession: Manage changing
discipline expectations
Society: Served by students, employers
and graduates
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements 102:
Key Process IndicatorsTechnically Prepared:
Assessment of program content, student learning,
program effectiveness
Effective Practitioners:
Assessment of student leadership, teamwork, ‘life-
time learning’, etc.
Program Change Management:
Assessment of program quality assurance
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Program Quality Assurance
Provide assurance that a university program
continues to meet established quality
standards…
Established & maintained by the profession
For which the program prepares students
To support industry, profession & society
As needs, students and staff change
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ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
FMEA Exercise
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Consider ways that the process of engineering
education (delivered curriculum) can fail
List Several – who is affected by the failure?
What are the effects?
For each failure mode, try to list one or more possible
effects
Where would the failure be detected in the
system?
For each failure mode, list how this failure might be
detectedTAMO
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Accreditation Criteria (ABET)
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Students: Monitored to foster success…
Objectives: How we define post-graduate
‘Effective Professional’…
Outcomes: Process KPI’s…
Improvement: How we monitor continuously
improve the process…
Curriculum: Educational content…
Faculty… Facilities… Institutional
Support: Key Process Variables…
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Why is Accreditation Needed?
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Students: Not represented in the system…
Objectives: Easily fall out-of-date
Outcomes: Change with needs…
Improvement: Do we monitor?
Curriculum: Easily fall out-of-date…
Faculty… Facilities… Institutional Support:
limited control…
TAMO
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Why is Accreditation Hard?
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Corporate Identity: Not an ‘engineering’ facility -
Faculty Identity:
Researchers, not educators;
Scientists, not engineers
Individuals, not team players
Culture: Not how things are done here…
TAMO
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Importance of Accreditation
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Requirements are Outside the institution:
Accrediting bodies represent key stakeholders
Student Success: Can be designed and managed
Effecting Professional Identity:
Professional Engineering Educators
Caretakers of a Profession
Effectiveness of Institutional Culture:
Owned by the institution, not just tradition
TAMO
ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Conclusion
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TAMO
Quality Assurance in Education:
Understanding your role in industry & society
Key role of professional societies in defining the
profession
Professionalism:
Internal value held corporately and personally
Collaboration of society, institution, industry &
students