Characteristics of accredited baccalaureate programs in electronic engineering technology

Abstract

This study investigated the curriculum characteristics of each of the 74 TAC/ABET accredited bachelor-level electronic engineering technology (BEET) programs. The study was conducted in three phases. The first phase was a catalog study and involved summarizing all courses for each accredited BEET program into computerized data base files. Summary statistics and t tests comparisons of nine subject areas were developed by year, upper and lower division, and overall. A program ranking process based upon circuit-analysis-mathematics-product scores was developed for selecting high, low and mid-range program patterns from the population. The second phase involved a mail-out survey of each of the 74 program administrators of the population. The survey investigated program administrative structures, job type expectations for graduates, program philosophies, course requirements, and prerequisite requirements, among others. It also included a number of attitudinal questions relative to course requirements and other concerns relative to BEET education. The third phase involved a correlational analysis between selected catalog and survey phase data. A comparative analysis was also conducted between various survey questions. Significant differences were found between programs, and between the four defined sub-populations' subject area requirements. The program patterns were found to provide considerable insight into the wide variations observed between programs. Significant correlations were observed between circuit-analysis-mathematics-product scores and various survey items. The catalog study was found to be effective for researching overall curriculum content. In some ways, it was found to be more reliable than the survey study, especially when researching specialty area mathematics prerequisites. The survey study was found to be an effective method for researching program philosophies and administrators' attitudes relative to BEET education. It was recommended that catalog studies of other BET programs be conducted and should include the circuit-analysis-mathematics-product score techniques developed during this study. Also, that catalog materials should provide more complete course and laboratory descriptions, hours, and mathematics prerequisite information. Further, that the TAC/ABET Accreditation Criteria should be tightened so that graduates of BEET programs will be assured of receiving a minimally-acceptable education for industry's needs.