The Use of Active Learning to Address ABET Course Learning Objectives in a Large Undergraduate Environmental Engineering Class

The overall aim was to determine if in class activities based on active learning improve the achievement of Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET) course learning objectives (CLOs) and overall student learning. The study was performed (Fall semester of 2011) in a large (similar to 80 student) undergraduate introductory environmental engineering course (CE 280, Principles of Environmental Engineering). The study was initiated because previous ABET data collected from CE 280 (Fall 2009) indicated a low level of CLO achievement. The approach was simple and involved between 2 and 4 in class exercises or short questions in every lecture session. The students responded to the questions using a response pad (resulting in 5% of their final grade). The questions were all multiple choice and were either qualitative questions or short quantitative questions. The questions were typically at the beginning, then after 15, 35 minutes and 50 minutes. Three sets of data were collected to determine the efficiency of this approach. Of these, two data sets were compared between 2009 and 2011. The first assessment method concerned a comparison of Course Learning Objective Evaluation (or CLOSE) forms. The second data set involved pre- and post- surveys in 2011. The third set involved a comparison of student performance in questions relating to each CLO. The CLOSE forms illustrated that the students believed they had a high level of understanding of each CLO in 2009 at the end of the semester and this did not change in 2011. The pre- and post- surveys indicated the students recognized the value of in class assessment as well as the use of response pads. The post- survey showed a statistically significant more positive response to considering the CLOs when studying. The final assessment method concerned an analysis of student performance on questions relating to each CLO. In 2009 over five CLOs were not achieved, however in 2011, only 1 CLO was not achieved. These data indicate the introduced pedagogical approach was highly successful at improving student learning of CLO content.