2011 ABET Annual Conference
The 2011 ABET Annual Conference, themed around "Innovation in Technical Education," featured keynote presentations by:
- Vinton G. Cerf, Ph.D., is Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and is widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet." Cerf kicked off the conference with a discussion about the value of innovation and its role in higher education.
- James Plummer, Ph.D., the Dean of the School of Engineering at Stanford University, elaborated about how his school is implementing new approaches in his presentation, "Educating Engineers for 21st Century Careers."
The conference, which was held in Baltimore and attracted more than 300 participants, also included interactive panel discussions and presentations that focused on fostering innovation in curriculum, student engagement, and workforce development.
2011 ABET Symposium
A record-breaking 490 participants attended the 2011 ABET Symposium in Indianapolis. This year's events included:
- Seven three-hour Pre-Symposium Workshops,
- More than 60 interactive sessions about educational assessment and ABET accreditation,
- Roundtable discussions where commission leaders answered questions about the accreditation process, and
- A resource room featuring 40 samples of well-written self-studies.
IDEAL
The Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership (IDEAL) is a 4½-day professional development opportunity for those leading the assessment process in their programs or on their campus. It teaches participants the fundamentals of:
- assessment principles,
- facilitation skills, and
- change management.
This year, ABET hosted two sessions of IDEAL – one in Orlando and another in Baltimore – that attracted a total of 71 participants from around the world.
Since IDEAL's inception in 2006, nearly 500 participants have attended these sessions and become educational assessment leaders.
Faculty Workshops
ABET continued to offer its popular Faculty Workshop on Sustainable Assessment Processes. In 2011, workshop facilitators conducted regional sessions across the United States to make it more convenient and more affordable for participants to attend. Three day-long sessions were held in:
- Dallas,
- Santa Clara, and
- Tampa.
These sessions helped more than 150 participants to broaden their understanding about assessment processes, develop measurable learning outcomes, and learn about new data collection methods.