| Alumni Survey | Senior Survey | Employer Interviews |
Purpose |
Our survey of recent undergraduate alumni gathers
- opinions about their undergraduate program including the quality of preparation in specific curricular outcomes and
- information about both their work experience and ongoing learning after graduation.
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Our exit survey of seniors gathers
- opinions about high school and first-year preparation for the major,
- opinions about their undergraduate program including advising and the quality of preparation in specific curricular outcomes,
- information about co-curricular involvement and plans after graduation, and
- opinions about how important specific curricular outcomes will be in the workplace.
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Our employer interviews are designed to ascertain, for a variety of engineering employment contexts, both
- employers' definitions of key skills and attitudes in outstanding engineering performances and
- employers' perceptions of the relative importance of those skills and attitudes.
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Survey Recipients |
Surveys are sent to all CoE alumni who received their undergraduate degree(s) two (2), six (6), and ten (10) years prior to the year of the survey. |
Surveys are sent to all students who apply for an undergraduate CoE degree in August, December, or May of the academic year of the survey. |
A sample of twelve employers is selected for each interview administration. Staff from the Engineering Career Resource Center (ECRC) select individuals to interview who have
- personal knowledge of the work of multiple CoE graduates and
- an established relationship with ECRC staff to create sufficient trust for a 30-60 minute interview.
The annual set of organizations represented must hire CoE graduates from a variety of majors.
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Initial Development |
In 1998, a survey was developed by the ABET subgroup in consultation with the School of Education. |
In 1997-1998, a survey was developed by the ABET subgroup in consultation with the School of Education. |
In 1998, a survey was developed by the ABET subgroup in consultation with ECRC. |
History of Modifications |
- Each academic year, the survey has been modified slightly based on feedback from faculty and respondents.
- In 2003, the survey was revised to clarify scales and enable a web version of the survey. These revisions were made in consultation with the School of Education.
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- Each academic year, the survey has been modified slightly based on feedback from faculty and respondents.
- In 2003, the survey was revised to make it more parallel to the Alumni Survey and to enable a web version of the survey.
- In 2007, the survey was revised to incorporate questions about career placement.
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- In 2002, an interview was developed in consultation with ECRC to gain access to employer representatives with substantial knowledge of the work of multiple CoE graduates.
- For each administration of the interviews, the interview protocol is modified slightly based on feedback from interviewees and faculty.
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History of
Survey Distribution & Collection Procedures |
- Since 1998, the survey has been administered annually.
- From 1998 through 2005, paper surveys have been mailed to the entire target population.
- From 2002-2006, the paper survey contained an optional URL for the web version of the survey.
- Since 2006-2007, paper postcards containing a URL are mailed to every recipient. Email reminders are also sent to recipients of the postcard who also have an email address in our records (~1/3 of the target alumni).
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- Since 1998, the survey has been administered each semester. (The Spring/Summer semester has been included since August 2003).
- From 1998 through May 2003, paper surveys were handed to recipients within their departments when they applied for their degrees.
- Since August 2003, this survey has been administered entirely through email invitations and email reminders.
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- In 1999, a paper survey was administered to company representatives at a large career fair on campus.
- Since 2002, telephone interviews of a sample of 12 employers are conducted bi-annually by ECRC staff.
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Data Entry Procedures |
Since the change to the web survey, respondents enter all of their own survey data.
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Since the change to the web survey, respondents enter all of their own survey data. |
Telephone interviews are not taped (in order to increase individuals' willingness to respond). ECRC interviewers take notes during each interview and type question-by-question summaries soon after each interview. |
Analysis & Comprehensive Reporting |
- Each academic year, comprehensive reports of the results for that survey administration are produced by OSA. Reports include a college-wide report and reports for each undergraduate program. Reports include descriptive statistics by survey question and compilations of verbatim responses to open-ended questions.
- Reports are posted to the "Assessment for Curricular Improvement" website with an email announcement to all faculty about the posting.
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- Each academic year, comprehensive reports of the results combining the three survey administrations are produced by OSA. Reports include a college-wide report and reports for each undergraduate program. Reports include descriptive statistics by survey question and compilations of verbatim responses to open-ended questions.
- Reports are posted to the "Assessment for Curricular Improvement" website with an email announcement to all faculty about the posting.
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- For the 1999 employer survey, a comprehensive report was produced by the OSA.
- For the interviews, OSA performs qualitative analysis on ECRC's interview summaries. The results of the qualitative analysis and the interview summaries are combined in a comprehensive report for each administration of the interviews.
- Reports are posted to the "Assessment for Curricular Improvement" website with an email announcement to all faculty about the posting.
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Selective Presentations of Assessment Results |
- In order to answer the faculty's key questions, OSA triangulates information from the alumni survey, the senior survey, the employer survey/interviews, and the course evaluations.
- For selective presentations of assessment results OSA distills assessment information. Most often these interpretations are communicated in live presentations (ranging from 15-45 minutes) to CoE decision-makers, such as the department chairs, the curriculum committee, and the ABET coordinators. A few of the selective presentations are made only in published reports, such as annual budget documentation.
- All the selective presentations are posted on the "Assessment for Curricular Improvement" website.
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