Understanding ABET
An example Objective: Graduates will be able to communicate with people throughout the world. Outcome: Students must be able to speak 12 languages before graduation. Assessment: Students can speak only 10 languages. A new process is being put in place to increase the number of spoken languages by students.
Course Assessment Assessment is a faculty activity that should result in change such as adoption of new textbooks, teaching techniques, and laboratory procedures/experiments.
Outcomes Assessment To demonstrate that graduates have achieved desired outcomes, some programs use student portfolios, collecting studentwork from the freshman year to the senior year using a WWW-based approach. This tool is useful in demonstrating that outcomes have been achieved. Another mechanism is to use national exams, such as the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam; this exam also allows for comparison among institutions.