Portfolio assessment in an American Engineering College

Estimates indicate that as much as 80% of an engineer's work time is spent on communicating. Studies done by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Arizona show that engineering firms, as well as ECE graduates, rank writing ability as the most important skill in determining engineers' success, even above the much more obvious technical skills that are the focus of much engineering education. Arizona's ECE Department began teaching its senior-level capstone design courses as “writing emphasis” courses to assist students in developing their writing skills prior to graduation, as well as to link communication skills and coursework to create graduates proficient in both written and oral communication. This paper describes a portfolio assessment that has been developed specifically for this context and population, and argues that this portfolio assessment demonstrates several advantages frequently called for in theory but rarely made operational. This program has provided an unusually rich practical application, showing how portfolio assessment changes assessment from a mere rating of limited and often costly tests to a continuous, integrated, and appropriate activity directly related to learning itself, while at the same time, developing the data about student.