(322b) Conversion of Penn State's Chemical Engineering Program Assessment and Evaluation Process

Before 2010, Chemical Engineering at Penn State collected extensive evaluation data to assure that, “somewhere in that pile,” it covered the components necessary to receive ABET accreditation. Then the author attended an ABET workshop in 2010 and saw techniques for a simpler, more effective process for continuous assessment and improvement. The department modified several existing best practices for its own use, and long before it was refined, they started using it.  In October 2014 our department had a successful ABET visit.  In this talk we focus on how we developed our Performance Indicators for Criterion 3, how we collected our data using our “PESTS” (problem-examples-scores-thoughts-syllabus) forms, how we used simple reviews for Criterion 4, and how we use several additional techniques to streamline our process to work with very busy faculty in a large department, while using the ABET process to improve our program.