Key Principles

About Outcomes-Based Program Evaluation and Improvement

Continuous program improvement is based on key principles:

	Outcomes-Based Outcomes-based* evaluation involves a continuous review of the ways in which programs might be improved, in terms of curriculum content, instruction, learning activities and assessment, to support students’ acquisition of the 12 Engineering Graduate Attributes
	Data-Informed Continuous Curriculum Improvement Data-informed continuous curriculum improvement refers to the ongoing cycle of review against a set of outcomes for the purpose of improvement.

Continuous Improvement and Sustainability Ongoing engagement in the improvement of curriculum happens through the ongoing collection and interpretation* of data, critical reflection on the outcomes and on how students’ achievement might be furthered in the curriculum. To be sustainable, practices must support students’ ongoing learning and be responsive to the ever-emerging learning needs of soon-to-be professional engineers. Developing sustainable practices for intentional and scholarly approaches to curriculum development must be considered if one of the goals of outcomes-bαsed accreditation is to foster continuous improvement* processes for engineering curriculum.

The focus of engineering graduate development is to: develop professional engineer competence, invite a high degree of faculty and student engagement, and adopt a process of continuous curriculum improvement.