Engineering Professors’ Council

Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Engineering (ALOE) Report – April 2009

Final Report of the Working Group

The Working Group met for the last time (as planned) on 20th March. The group recognised that the Learning Outcomes agenda was not yet complete but that they had helped to move the discussions forward particularly in the assessment area. It was important to articulate and disseminate the findings to as large an audience as possible.

The bulk of the meeting was thus devoted to considering the draft Final Report the group will publish on both the EPC and Engineering Subject Centre websites. The report will include conclusions from the study together with recommendations for future actions.

The group PowerPoint presentation will be updated to present the outcomes, the Engineering Subject Centre Guide on Assessment will be updated in the light of the findings, and the document defining the key terms used in the assessment area has already been finalised and put on the Engineering Subject Centre website.

Future collaborations

Work Based (or Experiential) Learning remains a subject which is of interest to all members of the group, but there were currently many initiatives in this area and it was not felt to be appropriate to create another group to focus on this topic at this time.  

The QUESTE VET project had been represented on the Working Group throughout. Their current project had now finished and the final report was awaited. They had already submitted an application for a new ERASMUS/EU Project focussing on developing further the assessment of quality systems as outlined in QUESTE VET using online Web 2.0 technologies. EPC is represented on the Steering Group of this new initiative.

The group members all recognise the value in keeping each other informed of items of mutual interest. This ongoing ‘networking’ will continue informally.

FJM  12.04.’09.