The Development of a Corporate Feedback System for Use in Curricular Reform; Progress Report Fall 2005

摘要

The University of Cincinnati (UC) offers cooperative education (co-op) in four colleges, two of which offer programs accredited by either EAC/ABET or TAC/ABET. UC operates under a centralized co-op model, in which the Division of Professional Practice is responsible for the cooperative education instruction through an alternating six-quarter curriculum. The Division employs twenty-four faculty members and provides cooperative education for over 3,600 students, pursuing 44 degree programs, and working in more than 1,500 companies. In 2004 The Division of Professional Practice successfully applied for a Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant having the title "Developing a Corporate Feedback System for Use in Curricular Reform". The project develops methodologies to use assessment data of student work term performance in curricular development, thereby continuously aligning experiential- or cooperative education-based curricula with industrial needs. The three-year project focuses on: a) identifying curricular activities exhibiting a strong correlation with student co-op work performance; b) designing and implementing processes allowing the systematic use of employer assessment in curriculum design; c) evaluating the impact of changes in curricular design upon student work performance; d) piloting and contrasting projects in both different academic fields and at different colleges; and e) developing a set of best practices to be used for further refinement and dissemination of the process. Initial project collaborators include UC academic units as follows: the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (College of Engineering); the Department of Civil and Construction Management (College of Applied Science); the Department of Architecture (College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning); the College of Business Administration; and the Division of Professional Practice. The assessment data is analyzed by the UC Evaluation Services Center; the Evaluation and Assessment Center for Mathematics and Science Education at Miami University acts as the external evaluator for the project.