Winter 2011 marked a watershed term for the professional development of UW Engineers. For the first time, we were allowed to take Professional Development (PD) rather than the outgoing PDEng courses. Furthermore, PD20, the new course for first-term engineering co-ops, was released.
PD Electives (Communication, Teamwork, Project Management, Problem Solving, Conflict Resolution)
Engineering students scored well in the PD electives, with averages in the 70s and low 80s. In fact, in all but one of the electives, engineering students actually scored slightly higher than our non-engineering counterparts. Aside from students who did not engage with the course content at all, there was only a tiny handful who failed.
A majority of students ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement that their skills had improved due to course content in each of the 5 electives. Each of the 5 electives had ‘pre-’ and ‘post’ tests to assess learning from the course and not only did the average score from all faculties rise substantially, engineers scored slightly above the non-engineering average on the post-tests. Finally, in exit surveys, each elective scored in the 3s or 4s out of 5 for ‘overall evaluation of this course’ and ‘I would recommend this course to other students.’
PD20-Developing Reasoned Conclusions
Students largely succeeded in PD20, with 95% of students passing (and about half of the remaining 5% had withdrawn from engineering and therefore did not engage at all) and a course average of 78%. Only 14% of students took more than 25 hours to complete the course.
While the PD staff will work on areas of negative feedback, the positive comments definitely outweighed the negative. Scores on all 20 or so metrics were in high 3s and low 4s (out of 5), including an overall rating of 3.97/5 and 61% agree or strongly agree the course helped them develop reasoned conclusions.
Overall attitude toward course evaluation and improvement
The PD Team uses the Kirkpatrick Training Model as a guide in developing, assessing and adapting their courses. They assess students on reaction to the course, learning from the course, behaviours attributable to the course and results. This feedback is subsequently used to revise the course and delivery for future editions.
The team (including course author) used student feedback and other mechanisms to make improvements to areas of weakness and reinforce areas of strength. Interestingly, the quantity of written comments on PD20 was higher than any seen before. While the majority of these comments were quite positive, the PD20 instructor and PD staff were very appreciative of the high level of professionalism in the constructive comments provided and are already working towards making improvements in the course.
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