Course Objective Matrix: Program Outcome Information

The course objective matrix, relating the curriculum to objectives can be accessed through the Course Objective Matrix page.  Each course is rated on a scale of zero to two for the amount of class time and assignments that are focused on topics and skills related to a particular objective.  To determine the numerical rating of each course, faculty are surveyed (or CEAT assessment documents are used for core engineering classes).  For non engineering courses, ratings were assigned by the ECEN C&AC based on their knowledge of the course.  There is no direct assessment by the ECEN C&AC of core math and science classes – this information is obtained and provided by CEAT with the help of course monitoring committees that work directly with the providers of these courses.  These courses contribute primarily to objective 1(a), which is well addressed by the curriculum.  The social science and humanities courses, which contribute primarily to objective 5, are monitored by CEAT in a similar manner.  As a result of issues raised by recent graduates (alumni survey), students and faculty, we recognize the need to strengthen support for objective 5. ECEN is in the process of proposing and implementing several one hour courses to enhance support of this objective.

The course objective matrix shows that the program covers all objectives with varying degrees of coverage.  In order to analyze the data, each course was rated by faculty on its contribution to each objective on a scale of  0 to 2.  To estimate the total coverage of each objective reported by faculty, the numerical score (0 to 2) was summed for all required courses.   

 The results can be seen for the overall ECEN curriculum in the colored bar at the bottom of the course objective matrix or through the graphs provided below.  Note that only required ECEN courses are tabulated in these sums in order to ensure that we account only for the subset of courses taken by all students. Students are guaranteed to exceed these scores at graduation having taken seven additional ECEN and technical electives. 

As expected, objectives #1 and #2 are covered extremely well. The remaining objectives are covered less well, suggesting that these are areas for possible improvement – particularly objectives #4 and #5.

Program Outcome Graphs:  Unnormalized Percentages

Program Outcome Graphs:  Normalized Percentages

Graphs:  Overall Outcomes of Unnormalized and Normalized Percentages