Engineering Service Learning, Engineering Entrepreneurship and assessment: Building a program that works

The U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) welcomed its first group of students in 2005, successfully graduating the first class in 2009. A key component to the engineering program includes a two course sequence in Engineering Service Learning and Engineering Entrepreneurship. Engineering Service Learning focuses on identifying a community based need, design criteria and constraints and developing alternative solutions. Engineering Entrepreneurship continues with the engineering design process, emphasizing testing and implementation of the design while developing a business plan and gaining an understanding of the market potential for the solution. Every class in the engineering program is tied directly to targeted assessment outcomes. Engineering Entrepreneurship and Engineering Service Learning support ABET program outcomes d (ability to function on a team) and g (communicate effectively in an interdisciplinary environment), as well as two school specific outcomes l (understand entrepreneurship and business plans) and m (define a community problems and deliver a solution). Outcomes d and g are challenging to assess and are often left to capstone design courses. This paper will provide background on the design and development of the two course series, assessment results from the past two years and changes made based on the assessment results.