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  • Accepted Manuscript: ABET & Engineering Accreditation - History, Theory, Practice: Initial Findings from a National Study on the Governance of Engineering Education
Title: ABET & Engineering Accreditation - History, Theory, Practice: Initial Findings from a National Study on the Governance of Engineering Education
When instructors change their classroom practices —shifting from lecture to active learning for example—there is a direct impact on student learning that is relatively straightforward to measure. However, every course is also part a curriculum that is developed by the faculty, often in line with a college or university’s present vision, and shaped by national values and policies surrounding engineering education and higher education. These factors have indirect but equally significant impacts on student learning, and constitute the larger ecosystem in which student learning takes place. These indirect effects are more difficult, and likely impossible, to fully understand. If the higher education system in the United States was more centrally governed by an educational ministry, as is found in Europe and elsewhere, it might be easier to understand and control the impact of these indirect factors. However, the highly decentralized system of educational governance within the U.S., and the great diversity of schools that are both the product and reasons for this ecosystem, have given rise to an extremely heterogeneous system. In the United States accreditation serves as one of the few, central mechanisms for shaping learning; it carries the weight of the state to the extent that it contributes to job and federal loan availability as well as licensure in selected fields. This more » paper examines the historic and presentday impact of accreditation on engineering education in the United States. « less
Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ;
Award ID(s):
1656117
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10302920
Journal Name:
ASEE annual conference exposition
ISSN:
2153-5965
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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