Structured assessment of ABET student outcomes 'a' and 'e' in mathematics for engineering students

Student outcomes are statements that describe the attributes, skills and abilities that students should have by the time of graduation. For quality assurance evaluation, these outcomes must be assessed through the curriculum and extracurricular activities. In order to evaluate the level to which an outcome has been met, it is necessary to select some courses where the outcome is highly covered. Whether an outcome is 'highly' covered can be identified using Bloom's taxonomy levels, the number of hours of coverage, the weighting of its assessment and other parameters. Course goals must be linked to the student outcomes and defined in measurable terms. Using just the two ABET outcomes 'a' and 'e' as examples, this paper presents a structured approach to directly and indirectly assessing student outcomes in mathematics through a partial differential equation course and by defining appropriate measurable course goals. The strategy to assess the outcomes is also explained.