This page provides information about student learning outcomes for the MSSE degree. The MSSE has an assessment plan that will continuously improve the program, and also meet the accrediting requirements of Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), which is its accrediting body. To be accredited, certain student learning outcomes must be measured, evaluated and improved.

Students will gain many student learning outcomes by pursuing the MSSE. In particular, all students will be prepared to earn an Associate Systems Engineering Professional title from the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). Numerous other learning outcomes exist, but the program only evaluates the following 11 student learning outcomes for program improvement and accreditation purposes. Some of these learning outcomes are derived from INCOSE’s Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE, version 1.1) as indicated.

  1. Elicit, define, reconcile, and manage system needs and requirements in consideration of cost, time, knowledge, risk, existing systems, and organizations. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Practice, Requirements Reconciliation” category)
  2. Define goods, products and/or services using rigorous systems engineering techniques and tools. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Practice, Problem/Solution Evaluation” category)
  3. Create systems engineering models of systems or products prior to the existence of the system or product (developmental models). (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Concepts, Topic Depth” category)
  4. Create systems engineering models of existing systems (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Concepts, Topic Depth” category)
  5. Design experiments to gather data and statistically analyze the data to identify significant factors. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Role, Related Disciplines” category)
  6. Identify real-world systems engineering problems and use appropriate systems engineering knowledge and skills to develop real-world solutions. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Practice, Realism” category)
  7. Show a breadth and depth of engineering knowledge beyond cores systems engineering requirements
  8. Show a breadth and depth of general graduate knowledge related to their systems engineering interest area.
  9. Employ ethical considerations in the process of solving engineering problems (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “Ethics and application of ethics in decision-making”)
  10. Communicate effectively. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Professionalism, Teamwork” category)
  11. Engage in lifelong learning. (Derived from INCOSE's GRCSE, “SE Professionalism, Professional Development” category)

MSSE Program Assessment Plan

The MSSE will use the following assessment strategy involving classes, the culminating experience and alumni surveys to determine whether or not the program is producing students with sufficient learning outcomes. Annually, the director of the MSSE program will convene at least 3 faculty teaching core MSSE topics. These individuals will evaluate all of the assessment data. In the event that any outcome is not met, the results will be distributed to the relevant faculty and strategies to resolve the inadequacies will be discussed. Changes to courses or the curriculum are the most likely outcomes of these meetings. In the end, this program will have a feedback loop. The goal will always be continuous improvement of the student learning outcomes.

For anything that is assessed through coursework, having 90% of students that earned a grade of a B or better for a core course or a B- or better for an elective course is sufficient to show acceptable student learning outcomes.

For learning outcomes assessed during student's culminating experience. The faculty will either vote to pass or fail the student based upon this culminating experience. It is important to emphasize that if any assessed student learning outcome is not sufficiently presented in the culminating experience, then the committee will vote to fail the student. If a student passes their culminating experience, then any outcomes assessed during the culminating experience will also pass. If 90% or more of culminating experiences pass, then the program will satisfy the assessments related to the culminating experience.

Assessment plan for each student learning outcome.

1. Elicit, define, reconcile, and manage system needs and requirements in consideration of cost, time, knowledge, risk, existing systems, and organizations.

This student learning outcome will be assessed in the required core class ME EN 6160 - Fundamentals of Systems Engineering. This class focuses on the first half of the vee model, which deals with these learning outcomes. A student receiving a B or better in this class indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

2. Define goods, products and/or services using rigorous systems engineering techniques and tools.

This student learning outcome will be assessed in the required core classes ME EN 6181 - Systems Definition and Modeling or in ME EN 6165 Requirements Engineering and Management. Both classes deal with proper problem definition and rigorous systems requirements. A student receiving a B or better in one of these core classes indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

3. Create systems engineering models of systems or products prior to the existence of the system or product (developmental models).

This student learning outcome will be assessed in the required core class ME EN 6166 - Model Based Systems. This class focuses on building MBSE models using software. The bulk of these models are built prior to the production or the implementation phase. A student receiving a B or better in this class indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

4. Create systems engineering models of existing systems.

This student learning outcome will be assessed in the required core class ME EN 6183 - Discrete Event Systems Simulation. This class focuses on building simulation models of existing systems and identifying areas of improvement. A student receiving a B or better in this class indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

5. Design experiments to gather data and statistically analyze the data to identify significant factors.

This student learning outcome will be assessed in the required core classes ME EN 6035 - Design of Experiments and also ME EN 6040 Quality Assurance Engineering. Both classes focus on statistical testing data and gathering appropriate data. A student receiving a B or better in one of these classes indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

6. Identify real-world systems engineering problems and use appropriate systems engineering knowledge and skills to develop real-world solutions.

This student learning outcome will be assessed in both ME EN 6170 - Systems Engineering and Integration and the culminating experience. ME EN 6170 focuses on the integration or the last half of the aforementioned vee model. In ME EN 6170, the instructor will be responsible to assign a real-world example problem where the students apply systems engineering tools and techniques. A student receiving a B or better in this class indicates that the student has met this student learning outcome.

This student learning outcome will also be assessed during the students culminating experience. The student presents a real-world problem and describes how they would apply and integrate knowledge from three of their program of study classes to create improvements to the real-world problem. All students may not have the capability or sufficient power to implement the solution. Thus, the last step involves the development and not the implementation of the solution in the real-world problem. If the student passes this culminating experience, then the student has satisfied this student learning outcome.

7. Show a breadth and depth of engineering knowledge beyond core systems engineering requirements

The students are required to take 6 hours of engineering electives. These classes must be approved by the Supervisory Committee and listed on the student's Program of Study. These classes are intended to provide additional breadth in engineering knowledge. Students receiving a B- or better in these 6 hours, along with the knowledge gained from the core classes, shows that the student has sufficient breadth of engineering knowledge.

8. Show a breadth and depth of general graduate knowledge related to their systems engineering interest area.

The students are required to take 6 hours of graduate electives. These classes must be approved by the Supervisory Committee and listed on the student's Program of Study. These classes are intended to provide additional breadth in graduate knowledge related to the types of systems that the student is interested in. Students receiving a B- or better in these 6 hours, along with the knowledge gained from the other courses, shows that the student has sufficient breadth of graduate knowledge.

9. Employ ethical considerations in the process of solving engineering problems

This student learning outcome will be assessed during the culminating experience. A requirement of the culminating experience is that the student discusses the ethical considerations related to their recommended solutions of their culminating experience problem. The committee will not a pass a student that fails the ethics portion of the culminating experience. If the student passes this culminating experience, then the student has satisfied this student learning outcome.

10. Communicate effectively.

This student learning outcome will be assessed during the culminating experience. The student will give an oral presentation and have slides. The supervisory committee will ask a few questions at the end. If the student passes this culminating experience, then the student has satisfied this student learning outcome.

11. Engage in lifelong learning.

This student learning outcome will be assessed during the culminating experience. A question at the end of the culminating experience will always be asked regarding future educational plans and how the student plans to stay current on the material. If the student passes this culminating experience, then the student has satisfied this student learning outcome.