Preparing for the accreditation process can be stressful process. Pulling together and organizing all of the documentation required to demonstrate that your program meets the requirements for accreditation can be an onerous task if you are not proactive. I would suggest that a good way to start your preparation is to take a close look at your program.
As a program evolves over time it is very easy for its vision and courses to stray away from the original mandate. If this variation is intentional and planned, then you have probably carefully reviewed your program, and all is well. But if changes have happened in isolation without the knowledge and consultation of all program faculty then this is a perfect time to give the program a once over.
Here’s one way you can approach that process:
Review (or establish) your program learning outcomes (PLOs)
Each program should have a set of governing or terminal outcomes. These define what graduates should be capable of doing when they leave the program. Our program’s first PLO is:
- Apply university level mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering principles to solve engineering problems involving electronic systems.1
It is a very broad requirement that identifies a competency that each of our graduating students should have. The remaining 15 program learning outcomes can be found here.
In the past, it was enough that these outcomes covered the core engineering requirements. The first eight of our program’s outcomes ensure our students have these competencies. The remaining PLOs ensure that our graduates are not only professionally accountable, but are employable. For example, the outcomes
- Interpret professional, ethical, and legal codes of practice required to be in compliance with industrial, labour and environmental legislation, and to protect the public and public interest.
and
- Apply the concepts of sustainability, environmental stewardship, and an awareness of societal impacts, including an appreciation for the interactions and uncertainties involved, to design and development activities.
help ensure that our students are prepared for professional practice, while outcomes such as:
- Communicate complex engineering concepts to technical and non-technical audiences using written, oral, and graphical methods producing effective reports, presentations, design documentation, and instructions.
and
- Identify and address individual needs for continuing education and professional development to maintain technical and professional competence, and to contribute to the advancement of knowledge.
help ensure our graduates are employable.
With the addition of graduate attributes to the CEAB accreditation criteria, it makes sense that the learning outcomes for engineering programs in Canada align with the defined graduate attributes. For many programs this will mean adding outcomes to address the attributes related to employability and professional accountability.
Creating a map is an easy way to ensure tips alignment. In the following map you can see the CEAB graduate attributes across the columns on the left, and the learning outcomes down the right-hand side.
Each learning outcome is mapped to at least one grad attribute. If there are any unchecked grad attribute columns when you are finished the mapping process, then your set of PLOs is incomplete. Take a look at what’s missing and either revise an existing or establish a new program learning outcome that will enable your students to meet this attribute.
Map in the courses
Once you’ve ensured that the PLOs cover all the required graduate attributes, then it is time to make sure that there is sufficient and balanced coverage of these outcomes in the courses you deliver. Each course should map to at least one of the PLOs. The easiest way to check this is to create a chart like the one shown here that has the courses listed across the top and the PLOs down the side.
If when you’re finished you find that a particular course doesn’t map to at least one of the PLOs then you either need an additional PLO or you must question the reason that this particular course is in the program in the first place.
Next: Step 1B – Know your Curriculum
Accreditation Matters 