The project is using the Imen-Delphi procedure to capture and categorize expected outcomes and assessment methods in first-year engineering courses and then using these results to define a classification schemes or set of models for these courses. This methodology for developing a consensus follows a proven technique designed to allow a large panel of experts to develop shared images of schemes based on a limited number of rounds of survey data. It has been proven to be successful in the development of a consensus for groups striving to specify characteristics leading to definitions of vaguely defined industries or programs This process is being followed by a workshop to investigate the defined models with their associated outcomes and assessment strategies in order to identify assessment gaps. These classifications would guide the engineering community in the development of first-year courses that have some coherency across institutions and facilitate transfer credit, encourage joint course development, and more effectively connect the first-year course to the rest of the curriculum. Results are being widely disseminated through conference papers, workshops, and journal articles.
Most universities with engineering programs have a course or sequence of courses referred to as "Introduction to Engineering". In most cases, engineering courses of the same name from different universities have generally the same content. However, the Introduction to Engineering course inherently conveys: "Exactly what do you mean by ‘Introduction to Engineering?’" Engineering is a fairly broad subject, so the content of these courses are often a melting pot of what an individual instructor deems important, learning objectives defined by a program, and/or national accreditation outcomes. While these classes are often prerequisites to second-year courses, it is a often hard sell to consider them properly integrated. These particular introductory courses tend to exist in their own sphere and loosely relate to later classes. In fact, first year engineering has many models used in different universities of different sizes, so rigorous comparisons between programs are naturally difficult to make. Through this NSF sponsored study, we have developed a classification scheme for first?year engineering courses to enable these type of comparisons. Utilizing multiple methods of data collection, including a focus group at a national engineering education conference and a survey of syllabi available on the Internet, this scheme has been rounded out to ensure completeness. A Delphi procedure was used to survey participants in multiple rounds toward building consensus on the classification scheme. Culminating workshops were held at major conferences in which the participants tested the scheme based on courses at their home institution. Numerous edits and slight revisions along the way have brought us to a fully developed tool ready to be used by any institution. The scheme will allow universities, community colleges, funding agencies, etc. to accurately determine specific course content when considering credit awarded for transfers, to develop introductory engineering coursework, formulate course foci, and to identify and fund efforts toward appropriate assessment gaps. Other interesting uses of the scheme have even included classifying each section of an institution’s first year engineering course and holding a seminar to iron out disagreements in coverage among sections taught by different professors and teaching assistants. From the scheme’s infancy up to today, it has been shown to be a multi-faceted tool. In terms of a broad impact, the scheme should prove useful for institutions as they assess the content and effectiveness of their introductory curricula, or schools dealing with transfer credits of courses such as "Introduction to Engineering", for funding agencies that need to classify specific characteristics of courses within proposals and as part of a general conversation on the importance of these courses for students as they transition from K-12 to engineering plans of study.
