Process for Establishing and Revising Program Outcomes

As shown in figure 2.1 above, the program outcomes are defined by our faculty, to be consistent with the educational objectives. These are reviewed annually as part of our annual assessment report preparation, and are revised, as needed, once every 5 years. The most recent revisions to the program outcomes were done during the 2006-2007 academic year. These outcomes are shared with our constituencies (students, external advisory board, alumni, and employers) to ensure that the outcomes include the critical skills deemed essential by these constituents.

The program outcomes are documented at the AE School Web site http://www.ae.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/ugbook/AE_UG_Handbook.htm . The course outlines have individually tailored versions of these outcomes.

b) The graduates will have a firm understanding of engineering science fundamentals that enables the graduates to examine real world problems for the underlying physical principles, and decide on appropriate methods of solution.

c) The graduates will have the ability to design, conduct and analyze the results of experiments in order to measure and study physical phenomena.

d) The graduates will have the ability to analyze and design aerospace structural elements, such as trusses, beams and thin walled structures, taking into account structural dynamics and aeroelastic effects.

e) The graduates will have the ability to analyze and design airfoils and wings, accounting for viscous and compressibility effects.

f) The graduates will have the ability to analyze and design air-breathing and rocket propulsion systems.

g) The graduates will have the ability to analyze the flight dynamics of aircraft and spacecraft, and design flight control systems.

h) The graduates will have the ability to work in teams and design complex systems such as aircraft and spacecraft, from conceptual and preliminary design perspectives.

i) The graduates will have good oral, written and graphical communication skills.

j) The graduates will be well trained in the role of the engineer in society, and have an awareness of ethical, environmental and quality concerns in the engineering profession.

k) The graduates will be trained to be life-long learners, pursuing and interested in independent study, research and development.
Relationship of Program Outcomes to Program Educational Objectives

Table 3.1 shows how the program education objectives map to the expected outcomes.

Each of the outcomes listed above have been linked to specific courses, where the skills needed to realize these outcomes are taught. They have also been mapped against the ABET (a)-(k) criteria. Table 3.2 below shows this link.

Please see http://www.ae.gatech.edu/~lsankar/ABET2002/ABET.Courses for course syllabi. See www.ae.gatech.edu/~lsankar/ABET2008/Direct.Assessment.Data for the direct assessment data to be discussed, already available on line. Much of the student work (senior design reports, design competition reports, undergraduate research reports) are electronically archived, and will be made available to the visitor prior to the visit.

The School of Aerospace Engineering uses a variety of direct and indirect assessment instruments to determine if our graduates are achieving the program outcomes. All of this data is electronically captured and documented at a web site www.ae.gatech.edu/~lsankar/ABET2008/Direct.Assessment.Data and is being made available to the evaluation team at the time the self-study report is submitted.

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  The faculty of the School of Aerospace Engineering conducts an assessment of the students’ preparation, from a pre-requisites perspective. This is done in selected upper level courses once per calendar year, during the first two weeks of a semester. The assessment information is communicated to the faculty in that discipline by the instructor. Remedial actions such as tutorials and recitation sessions are arranged as needed. The instructors in the pre-requisite classes revise the course content and coverage, as required, based on the information received from this assessment. See the web site for faculty input on assessment of student preparation in several specific courses: www.ae.gatech.edu/~lsankar/ABET2008/Direct.Assessment.Data
  
  
  
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  Senior exist surveys are conducted once every calendar year. The survey is filled out by the students during the term prior to graduation, as part of the degree application process. The surveys are electronically processed by the office of Assessment at the end of the spring term and made available at a web site. Comparative data from exit surveys conducted at other units within Georgia Tech are also available at this web site. This data is disseminated to the AE faculty as soon as the survey results have been processed, usually during the beginning of the following fall term. See 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 2006 2007 for this data.
  

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  As discussed under Criterion 2, senior design projects, external design competition entries, undergraduate research reports, and other portfolio items (e.g., honors and awards) are collected once a year, typically at the end of the spring semester. Comments from external judges, were available, are also collected. These comments (where available) and results from the national competitions are disseminated to the students, the instructors and the AE faculty as soon as they are available.
  

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  Samples of students’ writing are collected throughout the year, from the freshman class through the senior design. Undergraduate research project reports and student publications resulting from this work are collected at the end of each term. A CD containing a sample collection for one full year from various courses (senior design, undergraduate research, AE 2020 and 1350 writing samples, lab course writing samples) will be made available to the reviewer prior to the visit.
  

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  As discussed in under Criterion 2 above, alumni surveys are conducted once every three years in collaboration with the College of Engineering and the office of Assessment (see 2001 Survey Results, 2004 Survey Results, 2007 Survey Results). While the alumni surveys are primarily used to assess the program educational objectives, these are also useful in assessing the program outcomes. Te findings of the alumni survey are documented at an institute web site, and disseminated to the faculty as soon as these are available. Employer surveys are conducted by the Co-Op division. The faculty of the School of AE periodically meet with employers to find out their expectations for the employee (i.e., skill sets required to succeed in the job), and an assessment of how well our graduates are functioning in their chosen fields.
  

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  An annual assessment report is submitted to the Institute once a year (during the fall term) summarizing the findings of these assessment studies, and whether the outcomes are being met. See 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 2006 for the annual assessment reports for the past several years.
  

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  It was observed by the senior design faculty that the student preparation for capstone courses varied widely. This was traced to the primary pre-requisite course, AE 3310 (Aerospace Vehicle Performance). To address this, AE 3310 (Vehicle Performance) was reorganized to meet the cap-stone design needs. CD of course materials prepared and distributed to all the faculty members responsible for teaching this course.
  
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  It was observed that AE 3515 ((System Dynamics and Control) poses difficulty due to its heavy math content, and abstract concepts. Under an instructional grant from the College of Engineering, Prof. Amy Pritchett has explored a redesign of AE 3515 (3 hour lecture, 1 hour of problem solving). Students critique each other’s work, video-tape their own critique.
  
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  The instructors (COE 2001, statics) found inadequate prepared students. To correct this, instructors increasingly use problem solving sessions. TAs assigned for courses where extra help is needed. This approach has been found to be quite successful.
  
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  Instructors in all the gateway courses in AE (statics, dynamics, and low speed aerodynamics) observed inadequate preparation in math and physics. To correct this, the math and physics pre-requisites (C or better) are more strictly enforced. Refresher material is placed at the Aerospace Digital Library.
  

During this particular year, the survey indicated the independent research opportunities in all areas as a particular weakness. The students rated themselves as adequately trained in analytical skills and lab skills in discipline specific areas. This particular class of students also felt that they were adequately trained to be life-long learners. The student perception of their oral and written communication skills has steadily improved in exit surveys from year to year.

The above data is just an example of the exit survey data that has been collected and analyzed using methodologies above. Results for other years have similarly been examined and processed.
Closing the Loop Based on Exit Surveys: There are small variations in the median scores and averages from year to year. However, students consistently have rated themselves as well- trained in the mathematics, sciences, and aerospace discipline topics. The students desire more undergraduate research opportunities and hands on skills. To accommodate it, the School offers several sections of undergraduate research courses (AE 2699, 2698, 4699, 4698) for credit and pay and allows up to 10 hours of free elective credit.
Assessment of Portfolio Items: The honors and awards list (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 2006) and the benchmark data (e.g., student performance in national design competitions found at http://aiaa.org/documents/student/designcomphistory2006-2007.xls), and undergraduate research documents indicate that the students get adequate opportunities, outside of required course work, to develop their team design skills, oral and written communication skills, and research skills. Participation in these activities is voluntary both on the part of instructors as mentors, and on the part of students who pursue these activities as free electives. Nevertheless, a large number of our students participate in design competitions and/or undergraduate research.
Closing the Loop Based on Portfolio Items: An examination of our portfolio items indicates that much of the design competition activities were in the area of aircraft and spacecraft design, and in traditional disciplines (aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, etc). The program has added faculty in rotorcraft design and work with specialists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in the turbomachinery area to broaden the education and design experiences for our students. We have also added faculty in emerging disciplines (software engineering, avionics, cognitive engineering, Human Factors, air transportation). A number of electives are taught in these areas to train our students. It is anticipated that the addition of new faculty, new electives, and new research areas will diversify and enrich the research experiences our students will receive during the coming years.
CRITERION 4. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Information Used for Program Improvement

The results of the alumni surveys and employer surveys, along with input from our faculty, our Student Advisory Council and the external Advisory Council, are used to make decisions about improvements at the program level. We also take into consideration the input from the Board of Regents, the Provost’s Office, and the College of Engineering, in particular the strategic plan and the mission and vision of these organizations.

Results from the other assessment instruments (instructors, exit survey, samples of student work, other portfolio items) discussed under Criterion 3 above are used to make improvements at the course level.

Actions to Improve the Program

In this section, we summarize the input from our constituents and the assessment data from each of these instruments, and actions taken to close the loop and continuously improve the program.

The faculty of the School of Aerospace Engineering, in consultation with our constituents, acted on this recommendation and began offering two new degree options: BSAE (IP) and BSAE (RO). The International Plan option first became available in the fall of 2006, and 27 students are enrolled in the IP Plan at this writing. The Research Option first became available in spring 2007.

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  Observation: Students who were readmitted after drop had a high failure rate
  
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    Action: Retention of students in difficulty (re-admit after drop) has been improved with mentoring and selection of courses that combine academics, DBF Competitions, research.
    
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    In some cases, we work with the students to identify their strengths and interests, and help them transfer to new programs once they achieve good standing.
    
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  Other actions taken based on assessment studies:
  
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    Pre-requisites for performance and some senior design courses have been relaxed.
    
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    Science electives have been broadened to include technical electives.
    

CRITERION 5. CURRICULUM

ABET requires that the program must provide an integrated educational experience that develops the ability of graduates to apply pertinent knowledge to solving problems in the engineering technology specialty. The orientation of the technical specialization must manifest itself through program objectives, faculty qualifications, program content, and business and industry guidance. The program objectives, faculty qualifications, and constituent guidance are documented under other criteria. The program content is briefly described here.

a. plan, organize, prepare, and deliver effective technical reports in written, oral, and other formats appropriate to the discipline and goals of the program,

b. incorporate communications skills throughout the technical content of the program,

c. utilize the appropriate technical literature and use it as a principal means of staying current in their chosen technology, and

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  At the freshman level, the students take AE 1350 which requires the students to work on a group design project. The students present this work to the instructor and the entire class through written reports and an oral presentation.
  
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  At the sophomore level, many of the required AE courses include essay questions and discussions.
  
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  At the junior level, AE students take a technical communications course (LCC 3401) where formal technical communication skills are re-emphasized. The lab courses (AE 3051, AE 3145) have written reports that are graded for content as well as writing, and a final oral examination where the student is asked to design an experiment and present it to his/her peers and the instructor.
  
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  At the senior level, the capstone design sequence (Design I and II in the fall and spring terms, respectively) gives ample opportunity for the students to practice their writing skills and oral communication and presentation skills.
  
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  The AE program has 10 hours of free electives. Many students take courses such as Freshman Seminar (GT 1000), Design-Build-Fly Competitions (AE 1355/2355/3355/4355) where students function in a vertically integrated environment and practice writing and oral communication skills, and undergraduate research (AE 2699 or AE 2699).
  

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  12 hours of engineering topics: Computer science (CS 1371), engineering graphics (CE/ME 1770), material sciences and engineering (MSE 2001), Circuits theory (ECE 3710), circuits lab (ECE 3741).
  
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  10 hours of structural analysis including lab skills: statics (COE 2001), deformable bodies (COE 3001), aerospace structural analysis (AE 3125), and structures lab (AE 3145)
  
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  8 hours of aerodynamics including lab skills: low speed aerodynamics (AE 2020), high speed aerodynamics (AE 3021), fluids lab (AE 3051)
  
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  6 hours of thermodynamics (AE 3450), and jet and rocket propulsion (AE 4451)
  
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  6 hours of dynamics (AE 2220) and aeroelasticity (AE 4220)
  
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  10 hours of system dynamics and control (AE 3515), flight dynamics and control (AE 3521), and controls lab including control system design (AE 4525)
  
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  11 hours of design topics including Introduction to AE (AE 1350), Aerospace vehicle Performance (AE 3310), Senior design project I (AE 4350/4356/4358), senior design project II (AE 4351/AE4357/AE4358).
  

Please see http://www.ae.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/forms/Sem-05A1.pdf for a sample flow-chart of our 132 hour curriculum.

Please see the appendix for all required, and most of the elective coursework in our program.