DRAFT

2001 Senior, Alumni and Manager/Supervisor Survey Report

Produced by College of Engineering

Committee on Outcomes Assessment for Undergraduate Engineering Programs

September 11, 2001

Background

This report is intended to be a college level summary of outcomes assessment surveys, administered during the 2000-2001 academic year, by the College of Engineering on behalf of its undergraduate engineering programs. This is the third year of use of a survey of exiting seniors, 2^nd, 6^th and 15^th year alumni. After a one-year trial of a Senior Exit Survey developed by EBI Corporation, we returned to a locally designed survey that was used in 1998-1999. Generally the data in this report is an aggregate of all programs. Since differences in responses between programs can exist and programs have additional inputs from other sources, this information needs to be used carefully by each program as part of its on-going outcomes assessment and continuous quality improvement.

Where feasible, observations about the data and comparisons to the previous year are included. Copies of the college-common part of each survey are appended. Demographic Data describing the alumni populations being surveyed and the respondents is also appended.

Two other specialized surveys were conducted during the year. For this year, all alumni received a one-page survey regarding livelong learning. Cooperative education and internship employers were also surveyed. Individual reports on these surveys will be issued separately.

Recommendations for follow-up activity and future survey development will be developed by the Outcomes Assessment for Undergraduate Engineering Programs Committee (OAC). Input to the Committee is encouraged.

SURVEY RESULTS

A. Educational Outcomes Summary

Since the same twenty-five questions were asked, a summary of Educational Outcomes across groups can be presented. A tabulated form of the data for three years of surveys by alumni year is in Appendix 2-B. Since only a few questions showed obvious variation or trends across alumni years, data are summarized in the following Tables and Figures for the full college, across all programs and all alumni years. The full text for each question can be found in the appropriate Appendix 1 segment.

Weighting of the scale is:

Importance: Not Important = 1, Somewhat Important = 2, Important = 3, Very Important = 4, Extremely Important = 5

Ability on the Job or Preparation: Not prepared = 1, Somewhat Prepared = 2, Prepared = 3, Well Prepared = 4, Very Well Prepared = 5

Difference: Ability/Preparation minus Importance

Table 1. Educational Outcomes Summary Across All Alumni Years and Programs by Survey Year

Topic	Importance			Ability/Preparation			Difference
	98-99	99-00	00-01	98-99	99-00	00-01	98-99	99-00	00-01
An understanding of and ability to apply knowledge of:
Math	3.19	3.07	3.45	3.83	3.75	3.90	0.64	0.68	0.45
Chemistry	2.26	2.25	2.39	3.03	2.72	3.12	0.77	0.47	0.73
Physics	3.22	3.11	3.49	3.51	3.45	3.63	0.29	0.34	0.14
Eng. Science	3.66	3.47	3.60	3.65	3.54	3.66	0.01	0.07	0.06
Comp. Sci	3.74	3.37	3.88	3.85	3.43	3.35	-0.44	-0.42	-0.53
Humanities	2.54	2.63	2.33	3.07	2.79	3.12	0.53	0.16	0.79
Business	3.38	3.32	3.26	2.68	2.60	2.60	-0.70	-0.72	-0.66
An understanding and ability to:
Experiment	3.42	3.48	3.62	3.39	3.42	3.46	-0.03	-0.06	-0.16
Analyze Data	3.84	3.81	4.01	3.65	3.55	3.56	-0.19	-0.26	-0.45
Design System	4.05	4.01	4.15	3.44	3.38	3.57	-0.61	-0.63	-0.58
Multi-D Teams	4.28	4.18	4.23	3.42	3.49	3.52	-0.86	-0.69	-0.71
Solve Problems	4.20	4.17	4.27	3.77	3.80	3.76	-0.43	-0.37	-0.51
Ethics	4.02	3.90	3.92	3.34	3.31	3.50	-0.68	-0.59	-0.42
Comm Orally	4.36	4.29	4.24	3.20	3.33	3.35	-1.16	-0.96	-0.89
Comm in Wrtng	4.30	4.26	4.23	3.45	3.48	3.39	-.085	-0.78	-0.84
Stay Current	4.00	3.86	3.91	3.25	3.25	3.49	-0.75	-0.61	-0.42
Skills-Practice	3.99	3.78	3.95	3.58	3.44	3.54	-0.41	-0.34	-0.41
An understanding of and ability to:
Diverse Env.	3.51	3.29	3.47	3.35	3.33	3.52	-0.16	0.04	0.05
Comp.-Commu.	3.95	3.97	4.03	3.30	3.65	3.65	-0.65	-0.32	-0.38
Comp.-Design	3.89	3.90	4.16	3.32	3.58	3.51	-0.57	-0.32	-0.65
Integrate	3.73	3.54	3.71	3.19	3.17	3.24	-0.54	-0.37	-0.46
Apparatus	2.57	2.70	3.00	2.91	2.72	3.01	0.34	0.02	0.01
An understanding of:
Env. Aspects	3.02	2.80	3.05	2.57	2.57	2.86	-0.45	-0.23	-0.19
Global Scale	2.78	2.61	2.83	2.51	2.35	2.63	-0.27	-0.26	-0.19
Rel to Society	2.58	2.35	2.70	2.49	2.31	2.65	-0.09	-0.04	-0.05
Being a Licensed Professional Engineer/Surveyor:
	2.41	2.07	2.30	2.91	2.58	2.70	0.50	0.51	0.40

The Educational Outcomes data from the 2000-2001 Surveys is plotted in the following figures for easier study.

Figure 1. (2000-2001 data only)

Figure 2 (2000-2001 data only)

Figure 3 (2000-2001 data only)

Figure 4 (2000-2001 data only)

Suggested Priorities for Action

Looking at those items with the largest differences between Importance versus Ability/Preparation, in its 1999 report the OAC choose six areas for highest priority consideration by the College. The following compares results of the most recent surveys to those of 98-99 for these six areas. Most of the highest differences did occur in the same areas confirming the choice of these as action areas. However, the negative values (Ability/Preparation – Importance) for “Staying Current” and “Skills-Practice” questions dropped considerably relative to other questions. In addition the area of humanities showed a high positive value in this year’s data.

1. Communications