Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

EdD

College

College of Education and Human Services

Department

Curriculum & Instruction/Literacy Studies

Committee Chair

Ernest Goeres.

Abstract

The dissertation focuses on one aspect of the accreditation process of engineering programs in the United States, which is conducted under the standards of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Engineering programs seeking accreditation are required to comply with the so called Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000), which has been divided into eleven "learning outcomes," labeled a through k. The dissertation addresses one of them, "Outcome h", which specifically calls for "the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.";The dissertation examines what engineering departments, from the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) area, are doing to comply with Outcome h requirements for accreditation. Thus the purpose of this study is to examine the approaches engineering departments are using to respond to the challenges posed by Outcome h, and what impact this has had in the acquisition of global competencies by engineering graduates, as perceived by chairs of their engineering programs.;The data obtained were analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics, which produced significant findings in understanding the situation of engineering departments after the implementation of criteria Outcome h. Although engineering departments have very similar ways of operating, there is no unanimity on what constitutes an adequate response to the challenge posed by Outcome h in engineering. The difficulty comes, in part, from the conceptual confusion about the meaning of international education for engineers and global awareness. However, some contradiction appears as to what constitutes the best way to acquire global competencies.

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