2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Assessing ABET Student Outcomes Through International Virtual Exchange

Presented at International Division (INTL) Technical Session: Assessment and Accreditation, Globalization without Travel

Keywords: Virtual Exchange, COIL, ABET, assessment, global competencies, teamwork

There is an increasing global interest among universities to obtain and maintain various international accreditations; a common one being the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). ABET accreditation lists seven Student Outcomes (SOs) an engineering program should ensure that students attain before graduation. The attainment process and assessment procedures vary among different programs. Furthermore, there is a global interest among universities to engage in various forms of international education, including virtual exchange. This work presents an approach to attain and assess several ABET SOs through international virtual exchange (IVE) using a case study between universities in the US and in the West Bank in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The IVE experience was conducted over seven weeks where civil engineering students enrolled in pavement design or environmental engineering courses at the participating universities were challenged to develop innovative solutions to a pavement related problem and has been run for three iterations.

Both IVE and non-IVE teams were formed with different numbers based on the enrollment at each institution and the non-IVE teams were considered as control groups. Assessment focused on teamwork, global competencies, and application of engineering design to meet specified needs. Attainment of outcomes was assessed using direct and indirect measures that included established and adapted surveys as well as student work products. The results of this study emphasize how IVE experiences can not only have a positive impact on students’ formation as engineers, but also that these experiences can help students attain SOs outlined by ABET in a meaningful and authentic way that is embedded within a course context. For example, IVE teams tended to focus on solutions that met the needs and contexts of both countries, whereas non-IVE teams focused on the context of their own country. Additionally, students on IVE teams overcame language barriers and differences in vocabulary to effectively communicate with their teammates.

Authors

Bradley J. Putman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0828-2255 Bucknell University [biography]

Brad Putman is the Richard E. Garman Dean of the College of Engineering at Bucknell University and a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research and teaching have focused in the broad areas of construction materials and pavements. Dr. Putman has also been engaged in engineering education related research, most recently related to international virtual exchange (IVE). Prior to Bucknell, Dr. Putman was at Clemson University where he was a Professor in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. He earned his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering at Clemson University.
Khaled A. Al-Sahili An-Najah National University [biography]

Prof. Khaled Al-Sahili received his PhD degree in Civil Engineering in 1995 from Michigan State University, USA. He is currently a professor in the Civil and Architectural Engineering Department at An-Najah National University, Palestine.
Prof. Al-Sahili held the position of Dean of Engineering and the Director of Transportation and Construction Research Center at An-Najah National University.
His research and teaching interests cover transportation planning, traffic engineering and management, road safety, public transportation, pavement design, and engineering education.
He has more than 35 years of professional and academic experiences.
Dr. Abdelhaleem Khader An-Najah National University [biography]

Dr. Khader is the head of the civil and architectural department at ANNU. He is an associate professor in Environmental Engineering with 10-year experience in graduate and postgraduate education, mainly:
community-based learning, project-based learning, distant learning. and competency-based learning. He participated in many virtual exchange projects, including one between ANNU and two US based institutions (Clemson University and Bucknell University). Dr. Khader is a Fulbright Alumni and a IIE-Centennial Fellow working in projects related to capacity building for youth and women in Palestine. Dr. Khader is also managing the transfer of students withTVET degrees to engineering degrees.
Alia Gilbrecht An-Najah National University [biography]

Alia Gilbrecht founded the Virtual Exchange Collaborative at An Najah National University and is a seasoned expert in Virtual Exchange (VE) and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) with over seven years of experience. Throughout her tenure, she has pioneered the initiation, expansion, and refinement of high-quality VE programs that have impacted over 1500 students and fostered the development of more than 25 course-to-course COIL partnerships. Her significant contributions have not only earned An-Najah a prestigious second award from the Stevens Initiative in 2023 but also solidified its role as a lead partner in the Erasmus+-funded 'CliVEx' project, engaging over 2500 participants across MENA and Europe.

Alia's journey in VE began in 2017 with a Stevens Initiative grant, through which she developed programs initially uniting students from Palestine and the U.S. to collaborate on green building projects. This first experience illuminated the transformative potential of VE in reshaping students' global perspectives and enhancing their capabilities, driving her to continue pursuing VE opportunities and programs for students. As a UN-certified cross-cultural dialogue facilitator, Alia has over four years of experience facilitating dialogue-based virtual exchanges among diverse groups of students from across the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S., and has mentored other facilitators through the process, which have informed the intercultural dialogue framework in this research.

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