Developing Methods for Assessing (Diverse) Lifelong Learning Skills

introductionHofstra Engineering is ABET accredited.The main purpose of accreditation is to ensure the department is meeting certain objectives or outcomes, which will help students to be successful engineers when they graduate."Engineering education prepares students to affect the world of tomorrow, thus engineering education researchers must explore what the engineer of tomorrow will need to know." 1 The authors' point is that research needs to be done in four areas: The "knowledge, skills, processes, values, and attitudes [that] characterize engineeringandthe mechanisms by which these elements change over time"; how "innovation, critical thinking, systems thinking, biology, mathematics, physical sciences, engineering sciences, problem solving, design, analysis, judgment, and communication relate to each other to characterize the core of engineering as a profession"; "the source of these core elements, and how" they are shaped and whether engineering is "best characterized by the people it serves, the problems it addresses, the knowledge used to address problems, the methods by which knowledge is applied., or its social relevancy"; and "the connection between what students are taught and howthey practice engineering" upon graduation and where engineers should learn core elements. 1This research will help to make sure the professors are getting the mission of the ABET objectives across to the students and the students are achieving them.