ABSTRACT
This article presents a tool for monitoring the level of compliance with the CDIO standards of engineering programs. This tool is currently in use at the School of Engineering of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC), Chile to monitor five engineering programs. Since 2011, the School of Engineering at UCSC has been implementing a curricular reform based on the CDIO approach. In 2013, a preliminary self-evaluation of the adoption of the CDIO Initiative standards in these programs was done, and its results showed an overall compliance level of 3 for most standards, higher compliance levels for standards 3, 4, and 8, and lower compliance levels for standards 9 and 10 [1]. This preliminary self-evaluation motivated us to design a tool to aid the process of systematically gathering the data needed to monitor CDIO standards compliance levels periodically across all programs.
This monitoring tool allows us to associate measurements and metrics relating to several relevant factors to each CDIO standard. Thus, by using quantitative evidence gathered for these measurements and metrics, the tool aids the process of evaluating the compliance level for each standard. All relevant compliance information is presented in an easy-to-understand radial graph. The tool can also display the evolution of CDIO compliance levels for each program across different periods. Program managers and administrators can then use this tool to detect strengths and weaknesses in a timely manner, and to make informed and prompt decisions aimed at achieving high compliance levels for each standard.
The tool is easy to configure and very flexible: while it provides a basic set of measurements and metrics, they can be added and removed at will to tailor the tool to the specific needs of each program. The number of programs to monitor is also configurable, so administrators can add or remove programs at will.
REFERENCES [1] C. Martínez, M. Muñoz, C. Cárdenas, and M. Cepeda, “Adopción de la Iniciativa CDIO en los Planes de Estudio de las Carreras de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la UCSC,” in 11th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology Cancún, México, 2013, pp. 1–10.
Proceedings of the 11th International CDIO Conference, Chengdu, China, June 8-11 2015