Discusses professionalism as an engineer, and as an engineering educator and the role that accreditation plays in supporting professionalism. Invited keynote talk given at ABU3QCE in AlBaha, KSA in February 2015.

1. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote 1
Professionalism and Quality:
What can accreditation offer
Engineering?
Stephen Frezza, Ph. D., C.S.D.P.

2. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Engineering
Engineering employs principles of science,
mathematics and design for a practical
purpose.
These skills include developing and
managing the economic, legal, and
political constraints of the particular
challenge.
Mann Report, 1918
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3. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Engineering Education
Preparing Students to become
Technically-skilled
Effective practitioners
Dualistic goals
Balancing these goals is our ‘particular
challenge’ as educators
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4. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Technical Ability?
4
As educators, we are to teach the essential
technical abilities…
Fundamental knowledge…
of what?
That is determined…
by whom?

5. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Technical Skills…
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Defining Engineering Skills:
The Moving Target
Discipline-specific…
Shifts with developments in industry and
society…
Must support new, emerging (sub)
disciplines
Constantly changing…
Who is the expert?

6. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Effective Practitioners?
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As educators, we are to model and help
students become effective practitioners …
Fundamental Behaviors…
for doing what?
That is determined…
by whom?

7. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Effective Professionals
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Technically-prepared engineers with
personal qualities:
Common sense
Integrity & Tact
Resourcefulness & Initiative
Thoroughness, accuracy & efficiency
Understanding of people
Mann Report, 1918

8. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Professionalism
Acting in a professional manner when carrying
out your duties of employment.
For Engineers… might be:
Organization
Level headedness
Thoroughness
Dedication
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Attentiveness to
details
Promptness
Taking pride in
their profession

9. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Becoming… An Engineer
Duality between expected knowledge and
behavior
What is the right answer?
What should students know…
What should they be able to do?
Where do we find a useful answer?
Ourselves?
Employers?
Elsewhere?
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10. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Professionalism for Faculty
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Our Particular Challenge:
Preparing Students to become
Technically-skilled professionals
Effective practicing engineers
In a manner that models the skills and behavior we
want in our graduates
…a process design problem

11. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design 101
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Production Metaphor – an incomplete model
Useful for management and improvement
Then A Miracle Occurs
Our Program
T.A.M.O.
What my students might come up with…

12. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design 102
Understand the inputs
Understand the expected outputs
Design the series of activity to convert
the inputs to the desired outputs
Understand the controls that make the
process go wrong
Re-design the process so it detects
issues and continues to work
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13. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Educational Process Design
13
Design ‘Educational System’ to produce
effective engineering graduates:
System with quality attributes like…
Organized, Thorough, Attentive to
details
Designed, Validated, with attention to
the requirements
What are our requirements sources?

14. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements:
Needed: minimum quality standards for
content and process for engineering
education programs:
Appropriate Discipline-Specific
Technical Content
Effective Educational Practice
Effective Educational Process
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15. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Process Design Exercise
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Goal: Produce an engineering graduate who is:
technically skilled
prepared to be an effective practitioner
Stakeholders: List Several
Key Process Indicators: list ways that you know:
Students are technically skilled
Students are professionally effective
TAMO

16. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements 101:
Stakeholders
Students: The ‘inputs’ to the process
Employers: Value/evaluate graduates’
effectiveness
Profession: Manage changing
discipline expectations
Society: Served by students, employers
and graduates
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17. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Requirements 102:
Key Process Indicators
Technically Prepared:
Assessment of program content, student learning,
program effectiveness
Effective Practitioners:
Assessment of student leadership, teamwork, ‘life-
time learning’, etc.
Program Change Management:
Assessment of program quality assurance
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18. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Program Quality Assurance
Provide assurance that a university program
continues to meet established quality
standards…
Established & maintained by the profession
For which the program prepares students
To support industry, profession & society
As needs, students and staff change
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19. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
FMEA Exercise
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Consider ways that the process of engineering
education (delivered curriculum) can fail
List Several – who is affected by the failure?
What are the effects?
For each failure mode, try to list one or more possible
effects
Where would the failure be detected in the
system?
For each failure mode, list how this failure might be
detected
TAMO

20. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Accreditation Criteria (ABET)
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Students: Monitored to foster success…
Objectives: How we define post-graduate
‘Effective Professional’…
Outcomes: Process KPI’s…
Improvement: How we monitor continuously
improve the process…
Curriculum: Educational content…
Faculty… Facilities… Institutional
Support: Key Process Variables…

21. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Why is Accreditation Needed?
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Students: Not represented in the system…
Objectives: Easily fall out-of-date
Outcomes: Change with needs…
Improvement: Do we monitor?
Curriculum: Easily fall out-of-date…
Faculty… Facilities… Institutional Support:
limited control…
TAMO

22. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Why is Accreditation Hard?
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Corporate Identity: Not an ‘engineering’ facility -
Faculty Identity:
Researchers, not educators;
Scientists, not engineers
Individuals, not team players
Culture: Not how things are done here…
TAMO

23. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Importance of Accreditation
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Requirements are Outside the institution:
Accrediting bodies represent key stakeholders
Student Success: Can be designed and managed
Effecting Professional Identity:
Professional Engineering Educators
Caretakers of a Profession
Effectiveness of Institutional Culture:
Owned by the institution, not just tradition
TAMO

24. ABU3QCE ’15 Keynote
Conclusion
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TAMO
Quality Assurance in Education:
Understanding your role in industry & society
Key role of professional societies in defining the
profession
Professionalism:
Internal value held corporately and personally
Collaboration of society, institution, industry &
students