An Absorbing Travel Account: Review of \u3ci\u3eLike a Sponge Thrown into Water: Francis Lieber\u27s European Travel journal of 7844-7845. A Lively Tour Through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, and Bohemia with Observations on Politics, the Visual and Performing Arts, Economics, Religion, Penology, Technology, History, Literature, Social Customs, Travel, Geography, Jurisprudence, Linguistics, Personalities, and Numerous Other Matters by One of the Nineteenth-Century\u27s Most Influential Minds\u3c/i\u3e. \u3ci\u3eTranscribed from the Autograph Manuscript Preserved in the Collections of the South Carolina Library at the University of South Carolina\u3c/i\u3e. Edited with an introduction and commentary by Charles R. Mack and Ilona S. Mack.

Motivated by his interest in Francis Lieber\u27s importance in the hIstory of the University of South Carolina, as well as Lieber\u27s reflections on European works of art, Charles R. Mack, professor of Art History at South Carolina, with his wife Ilona S. Mack, has edited from manuscript the journal Lieber kept for much of his European sabbatical of 1844-45. The extended title provided by the editors advances their views of the significance of Lieber\u27s journal and implies a potential readership for their text. Indeed, the editorial claim that Lieber was one of the nineteenth-century\u27s most influential minds is bold. More realistic is their fear expressed in the first paragraph of the Preface (xiii) that, with the passing of the years, memory of his many accomplishments (and their lasting impact) has begun to fade. (A brief and wholly unscientific poll of several colleagues in relevant fields disclosed no recognition of his name; only one of his books, On Civil Liberty and Self Government from 1853, is still available through a special-order service.

Development of Outcome Assessments at WPI

The WPl PLAN, adopted by the WPl faculty in 1970, strongly anticipates current thinking about student outcomes assessments by structuring degree requirements that mandate that students demonstrate their ability to perform professional functions embodied in ABET Criteria 2000, especially Criteria 3 and 4. The WPI faculty has also practiced both student and self evaluations of these outcomes through respectively grades and peer review (both departmental and campus-wide) of student performance

What Was Learned - Outcomes Assessment Under Criteria 2000 At WPI

Six WPI engineering programs were evaluated under Criteria 2000 during a pilot accreditation visit in 1996. The WPI PLAN consists of degree requirements focused on the achievement of outcomes related to those of Criteria 2000. The mapping of degree requirement outcomes to the elements of the Criteria hinged on the translation of student performance metrics and their interpretation. Not surprisingly, substantial effort was necessary to ensure the identification of all elements of Criteria 2000, including the applicable Program Criteria in the academic program outcomes

Achieving Learning Outcomes through Project-Based Education

The WPI Plan is predicated on the concept that project work provides an environment in which students “learn by doing.” In addition to requiring disciplinary competence, WPI’s undergraduate programs feature broad learning outcomes such as the ability to address open-ended problems, to communicate effectively, to function well in teams, and to understand the societal and cultural contexts within which science and technology function. A set of required projects is central to the achievement and demonstration of such learning outcomes. As a practical matter, we have found that problems drawn from the “real world” provide very effective learning experiences for students working in small teams with guidance from faculty advisors and sponsor liaisons. WPI students complete two such projects--an interactive technology/society project done in multidisciplinary teams, and a capstone design or research project in the major area of study. Both of these projects are degree requirements for every WPI student. Assessment indicates that these experiences are especially effective contexts for motivating high levels of student achievement. Because of WPI’s well-established project-based approach to global learning, the Global Perspective Program, more than 500 WPI students participated last year in semester-long study-abroad programs culminating in a major team-based project. The WPI Global Perspective Program presently provides opportunities at over twenty sites for students to complete disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects — all of which are advised by faculty in residence with the students at the global site. In this paper, we will discuss the educational objectives of these two types of student projects in terms of outcomes and their assessment. In particular, we will focus on the challenges and benefits of achieving and measuring broad learning outcomes in open-ended project settings. Some of these learning outcomes are particularly well-suited to demonstrating fulfillment of ABET criteria, including those criteria that are mostdifficult to achieve in a conventional, course-based curriculum. We will conclude by describing how the evidence provided by assessing these projects has been used in two highly successful ABET EC 2000 reviews