A direct assessment method of the achievement of the program outcomes from the courses outcomes

The achievement of the program outcomes (POs) is very important for engineering institutions who have adopted Outcome Based Education (OBE). Generally, program outcomes assessment methods can be divided into direct and indirect methods. Direct methods are generally based on grades obtained from examination or project works while indirect methods are based on perception obtained from surveys, questionnaires and observations. In this paper, a direct assessment method is proposed whereby the assessment of the achievement of the program outcomes is based on the marks obtained by students in the final exam. There are three main advantages of the system. First, the relationship between the program outcomes and courses outcomes is based on Set Theory and therefore the use of the weight matrix, used in most assessment systems, is not necessary. Second, the system can deal with courses outcomes of all learning domains by converting marks into rubric scale. Thirdly, the system can assess the performance of the cohort as well as the individual graduates.