Student learning outcomes: alumni, graduating seniors and incoming freshmen

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of introducing a college wide system of student feedback into the A. J. Clark School of Engineering (USA). This component is one part of the larger response of the school of engineering. Student self-assessment learning outcomes were tracked from student entry into the college until five years after graduation. Instruments were developed for this task and were administered to incoming freshmen, graduating seniors and as a part of an extensive alumni survey conducted by mail. Engineering faculty were engaged at virtually all levels of planning, implementation and use of the information for instructional improvement and ABET accreditation. The design process of the instrumentation is discussed. In addition, what the students related with their feedback is also described. Finally, a critique of each instrument and methodology is offered.