Building a culture that values learning outcomes as an integral part of effective program development - one faculty’s example

Abstract

In 2016 and 2017, the Faculty of Engineering made significant efforts to review the state of all programs, and our course learning outcomes and redevelop them as necessary. This review was driven by new Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) requirements to report course learning outcomes as part of the Course Information Sheets. This paper looks at the work done in collaboration with the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in undertaking this initiative.Generally speaking, the experiences gained through this process were that learning outcomes benefit the instructors, students, and program alignment; regular workshops and one-on-one interactions improved the culture around learning outcomes amongst faculty members; having up-to-date learning outcomes must be a continuing process; learning outcomes are invaluable in ensuring continuity and consistency in course offerings; and, pedagogical/teaching service units are valuable partners in propagating pedagogical knowledge.

Intersecting Roadmaps: Resolving Tension Between Profession-Specific and University-Wide Graduate Attributes

“…In order to ensure an effective implementation of a continual improvement program and aligned assessment of graduate attributes, engineering program and curriculum designers now integrate course-level learning outcomes mapped to the CEAB graduate attributes and linked to the overall program objectives (Ivey, 2017;Kaupp & Frank, 2016;Watson et al, 2018). Work and co-op experience, capstone design projects, internships, and extra and co-curricular activities may be included as contributing factors to graduate attribute development (Gwyn, 2017;Gwyn & Gupta, 2015;Jamieson, 2016;Salustri, 2017;Shehata & Schwartz, 2015).…”

“…3 The International Engineering Alliance (IEA) is a non-profit organization that establishes and enforces international standards for engineering education to ensure quality and mobility. 4 Queen's University, the University of Calgary, UBC, the University of Toronto, Dalhousie, and the University of Guelph (Frank et al, 2011;Kaupp et al, 2012;Kaupp & Frank, 2016;Stiver et al, 2010;Stiver, 2011), Ryerson University (Easa, 2013;Salustri & Neumann, 2016;Shehata & Schwartz, 2015), Concordia University (Gopakumar et al, 2013;Hamou-Lhadj et al, 2015), the University of Manitoba (Seniuk-Cicek et al, 2014;Sepheri, 2013), the University of Alberta (Dew et al, 2013;ElAtia & Ipperciel, 2015a, 2015bElAtia et al, 2016;ElAtia et al, 2020;Ivey, 2017;Ivey et al, 2018;Parker et al, 2019;Watson et al, 2018), the University of Victoria (Gwyn, 2016(Gwyn, , 2017Gwyn & Gupta, 2015), and Memorial University (Spracklin-Reid & Fisher, 2012…”

“…The Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta framework has been detailed extensively (Parker et al, 2019;Ivey et al, 2018;Watson et al, 2018; ). The seven university graduate attributes are related to skills, characteristics, and values.…”

A Continual Improvement Process for Teaching Leadership and Innovation Within a Community of Practice

“…At the Faculty level, a program of study based continual improvement process has been in use for several years Watson, 2018). Instructor measured graduate attribute indicators relevant to their courses feed into this process.…”

“…In 2014 funding was provided by the Provost's Office for a major redevelopment of the capstone course for blended learning delivery. During the transition, course level learning outcomes were examined and mapped to the twelve Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board Graduate Attributes (CEAB GA) and the results were included in the course syllabus (Jamieson, 2015;Watson, 2018). Learning activities were redeveloped and further aligned with learning outcomes and assessment requirements .…”