Outcome-Based Curriculum Design for New-Generation Engineers: A Case Study From the ITU Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department

Introduction

In addition to the development and innovation movements of the 21^st century, the concept that stands out especially in science & technology and also in almost all areas, is the Information Age that enables learning environment and the development of new educational technologies for everyone. Information age (informatics century), which is considered to be the most important event that humanity has seen after the Industrial Revolution, is clarified as the new period of social and economic organization during which (a) knowledge is the principle source for production, (b) information generation and transmission are widespread, (c) information generation and distribution is largely carried out by employees and (d) change and development are unavoidable through continuous learning and information. Considering the dynamic and sustained formations of globalization and information society, the change in education has become compulsory as it is in the economic, social, political and cultural fields. In this context, a number of different policies and practices have been brought out in the developed and developing countries, such as systematic reforms in education systems, modern institutions, provision of modern teaching tools and equipment, increasing professional knowledge and levels of instructors, improvement of teaching-learning process with changes in managerial sense. Together with the information society, there have been changes in the subjects such as; guiding and instructor trainer, learning student actively at team working environment, instructional-management leadership-based leadership, individual research-based learning method, variable education programs, organizational learning and multi-dimensional conceptual learning criterion. The universities, which have the task of producing knowledge and serving humanity in different disciplines, have become obliged to bring a new perspective to education as required by our age and to use new methods and criteria in order to fulfill their functional duties. When this situation is considered in terms of engineering education, it can be seen clearly since 2000s that graduates of the future engineering programs have become compelled not only to know the fundamentals of science, mathematics, and engineering fields but also to have social skills that will be effective in their professional life. These features also include communication, multi-disciplinary teamwork, problem solving, self-assessment, change management and lifelong learning skills, as well as awareness of social and ethical phenomena related to the engineering profession.

Similarly, ABET has adopted Engineering Criteria2000 in 1997 and since then this has been serving as one of the benchmarks of quality assurance of engineering education world-wide. Among those criteria, achievement of the student outcomes (SO) has been the primary focus of the quality assurance and accreditation requirements for engineering education. According to ABET, Program Educational Objectives (PEO) are “broad statements that describe what graduates are expected to attain within a few years of graduation”. Putting “what is learned by the students” to the center of engineering education, ABET EAC defines the SOs as “what students are expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation. These relate to the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that students acquire as they progress through the program”.

Considering the worldwide related issues mentioned above, ITU, has been the focus point in this study in terms of both incorporating leading engineering higher education institutions from various disciplines in its body and also serving as an example as being able to putting itself in a rapid change under fluctuating conditions. One of the primary objectives of the study is to present the systematic approach of adaptation process against the changes from the beginning to the present, and by this to reflect the logic of thinking and progress. In this way, in addition to experience sharing, it will be also shown that the progresses have been conducted in parallel with the global developments approach. As having the awareness that universities have an inevitable duty in the reconfiguration period of education, one of the other objectives is putting an emphasis on the necessity of new graduates have to be equipped with different infrastructure and features at the starting point of their professional life and also revealing this fact by using various assessment tools. It should be also emphasized that these tools are also subjected to continuous improvement process upon requirements.