Work in progress — An evidence-based intervention system to enhance engineering education

A major difficulty in assessment is the problem known as `closing the loop´ - ensuring that assessment data is used effectively for program improvement and to enhance student learning. There are a number of reasons why current assessment procedures do not always succeed at this necessary phase of the process. First and foremost is that assessment has been tied to accreditation and viewed by many faculty and administrators as a necessary evil to be dealt with as little expenditure of time and effort as possible. As long as some program changes can be linked to the assessment process - thus satisfying the external accreditors - the bulk of the data being collected can be safely ignored. A second factor is the data itself. In order for the assessment process to be effective, the right kind of data must be collected in the right amount. However, there seems little consensus as to the kind and amount of data to collect. Finally, the nature of faculty instruction in higher education can itself be an impediment. Faculty instructors are often unaware of how their particular courses fit into the overall curriculum, beyond vague knowledge of what pre-requisite courses should have been taught. A partial solution to these problems is currently under development through a partnership between Drexel University and Untra Academic Management Solutions, LLC. The proposed solution is the development of an Instructional Decision Support System (IDSS). We define an IDSS as an interactive computer-based information system which links student characteristics, student performance, instructor characteristics, learning outcomes, and instructional methods to inform faculty decisions on the appropriate educational pedagogy to improve student learning. As envisioned, the IDSS provides student and course data in context to each faculty instructor as he or she teaches their course.