Student Outcome Attainment

The year-long senior design project is a culminating experience that allows students to apply much of what they have learned in the preceeding three years. This is an excellent place for students to demonstrate proficiency in the student outcomes for the program.

Both the Computer Engineering and Software Engineering programs have identified the following student outcomes:

1. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics
2. an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors
3. an ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences
4. an ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts
5. an ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives
6. an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgement to draw conclusions
7. an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies

Each student must demonstrate attainment of various student outcomes by demonstrating attainment of specific performance indicators related to the student outcomes.

Fall

Student Outcome 1, Performance Indicator 4

A student will identify constraints in open ended problems.

Assignment: Based on the requirements specified in the project proposal, each student will identify two specific constraints for the project.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Failed to identify any relevant constraints
• Developing: Failed to identify two relevant constraints
• Proficient: Two relevant constraints identified
• Accomplished: Identified constraints have a direct impact on design decisions for the project
• Exemplary: Identified nearly all relevant constraints for the project

Student Outcome 3, Performance Indicator 4

A student will justify tradeoffs to a member of management.

Assignment: Each student will write a component of the technology report justifying a decision. The justification must present various tradeoffs and the rationale for the decision in a way that is clear to a manager.

Rubric:

• Beginning: No tradeoffs identified
• Developing: Justification leaves management uncertain if the right tradeoffs were made
• Proficient: Justification convinces management that the right tradeoffs were likely made
• Accomplished: Justification convinces management that the right tradeoffs were made
• Exemplary: Justification significantly increases the confidence of management that the right tradeoffs were made

Student Outcome 3, Performance Indicator 5

A student will deliver an elevator pitch for a software project to a non-technical audience.

Assignment: Each student must record a 30 second video pitching the value of their senior design project to non-technical audience.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Presentation is confusing or misleading
• Developing: Presentation is mostly understandable but missing critical components
• Proficient: Presentation is understandable but not compelling
• Accomplished: Presentation is understandable and engaging
• Exemplary: Presentation makes audience a believer in the product

Student Outcome 5, Performance Indicator 4

A student will improve communication among teammates, ask for feedback, and use suggestions.

Assignment: Each teammate will rate the other members of the team using the following rubric and provide an explanation for the rating. The instructor will use this evidence to evaluate each student's level of attainment.

Rubric:

• Beginning: The student makes team communication worse
• Developing: The student responds to others but does not proactively seek to improve communication
• Proficient: The student seeks input from others and frequently responds appropriately
• Accomplished: The student actively seeks to facilitate communication among team members
• Exemplary: The student effectively engages teammates resulting in superior productivity

Student Outcome 7, Performance Indicator 3

A student will be able to self-critique knowledge in a relevant area and identify relevant skills that need to be obtained to complete a project.

Assignment: The student will identify a component of the project for which their previous background is insufficient and will identify what additional knowledge is required for them to successfully contribute to that component. Note: the student does not need to actually obtain the identified knowledge.

Rubric:

• Beginning: No relevant skills identified
• Developing: Some relevant skills identified, but failed to identify at least one critical skill
• Proficient: General skill categories identified
• Accomplished: Most relevant specific skills identified
• Exemplary: All relevant specific skills identified and appropriately prioritized

Winter

Student Outcome 2, Performance Indicator 1

A student will evaluate a project's design for whether it achieves the desired quality attributes, including an analysis of the required tradeoffs.

Assignment: The student will identify a quality attribute from the project requirements and provide a critique of the designed project solution near the end of the term. The critique must identify and address tradeoffs made as part of the design.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Failed to identify quality attributes and/or any tradeoffs
• Developing: Successfully identified a quality attribute but did not consider a number of relevant tradeoffs
• Proficient: Successfully identified a quality attribute and addressed most relevant tradeoffs
• Accomplished: Successfully identified a quality attribute and addressed all relevant tradeoffs
• Exemplary: Analysis of tradeoffs was particular insightful

Student Outcome 5, Performance Indicator 3

A student communicates in a timely way with the team.

Assignment: Each teammate will rate the other members of the team using the following rubric and provide an explanation for the rating. The instructor will use this evidence to evaluate each student's level of attainment.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Student is unresponsive for multiple days without explanation
• Developing: Student responds to communication within a day or two
• Proficient: Student responds to critical communication quickly and non-critical communication within a day
• Accomplished: Student responds quickly to all communication
• Exemplary: Student responds quickly and meaningfully to all communication

Student Outcome 6, Performance Indicator 3

A student will develop and conduct software usability experiments and recommend user experience improvements based on experimental results.

Assignment: Each senior design team is required to develop and conduct a usability experiment. Each student must analyze the results of the experiment and recommend user experience improvements.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Recommendations unrelated to the experiment
• Developing: Recommendations unrelated to the experimental results
• Proficient: Competent analysis resulted in appropriate user experience recommendations or none if data was inconclusive
• Accomplished: Competent analysis resulted in insightful user experience recommendations
• Exemplary: Competent analysis resulted in insightful user experience recommendations and improvements to the experimental design were identified.

Student Outcome 7, Performance Indicator 4

A student will identify a personal knowledge gap when developing a problem solution and learn the necessary content to solve the problem and implement the solution.

Assignment: Each student will identify an area of new knowledge required by his/her senior design project and develop and execute a plan to acquire the appropriate knowledge.

Rubric:

• Beginning: No knowledge gap was identified
• Developing: Knowledge gap was identified but the student was unable to acquire the necessary knowledge
• Proficient: Knowledge gap identified and steps were taken such that the student was able to implement a solution
• Accomplished: Knowledge gap identified and and efficient path to a solution was followed
• Exemplary: Knowledge gap identified and and efficient path to a superior solution was followed

Spring

Student Outcome 2, Performance Indicator 3

A student will identify the impact of a software product on society including aspects such as public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.

Assignment: Each student must identify how their project could impact society touching on at least two of the aspects listed in the performance indicator.

Rubric:

• Beginning: Unable to identify any societal implications
• Developing: Societal impacts identified are artificial and/or extremely shallow
• Proficient: Meaningful societal impacts for at least two aspects are identified
• Accomplished: Impacts identified demonstrate significant awareness of societal implications
• Exemplary: Demonstrates deep analysis of societal implications