Inventory of Evaluation Tools
Engineering education project seldom are evaluated with rigor to document the success of innovations so they can be appropriately revised or adopted by others. Researchers seeking quality evaluation tools do not have a ready source of tools nor do they have information about available tools to determine their suitability for their needs. This project laid a foundation for developing a database of evaluation tools to support the engineering education community.
It was developed with funding from the National Science Foundation under grant number DUE 0839898, College of Engineering and Architecture, Washington State University.
Goals
The goal of this work is to develop, analyze, and disseminate an inventory of evaluation tools for development projects that seek to enhance engineering student learning and professional growth. Sub-goals include:
- Inventory the status of engineering education evaluation tools suitable for evaluation of course, curriculum, and laboratory improvement and other engineering education projects.
- Catalog, evaluate, and disseminate information about existing tools and gaps in evaluation tool resources.
- Recommend next steps for development of an evaluation tools database for engineering education projects.
Activities
The project team searched publications and databases of funded engineering education projects to identify evaluation tools used by or developed by the work reported. Evaluation standards were reviewed to identify criteria for classifying evaluation tools. The team then contacted authors and project leaders to gather information about their evaluations tools. Using this information, each tool was entered into a prototype tools database and classified by the selected criteria.
The project leaders organized a 1/2 day workshop for engineering education and evaluation specialists to review the prototype database and to recommend refinements to the database as well as next steps for development of a functional database to serve the community's needs. Thirty faculty, NSF program officers, and others were invited to participate in the workshop. After completing a pre-workshop review of assigned evaluation tools, they gathered in Washington DC on May 28, 2009 for development of consensus recommendations. The workshop facilitators compiled information into a project report that participants also reviewed.
Results
Outcomes of the project include the following:
- A prototype engineering education evaluation tools database with 150 tools classified
- Recommendations for refining the database structure
- Recommendations for criteria for instrument inclusion to ensure tool sophistication and rigor
- Identification of other existing evaluation tools useful to engineering project evaluation
- Recommendations for prioritized development of new evaluation tools
- Recommendations for types and features of dissemination mechanisms for evaluation tools
- Recommendations for further development and funding of an evaluation tools inventory
- Documentation of assessment purposes that engineering needs to address.
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