Evaluating the Current Continuous Improvement Approach in ABET-Accredited Computing Programs

Continuous Improvement (CI) of academic computing programs is a main requirement of accreditation. Academic computing programs must have a CI plan that is documented in order to be granted accreditation. A comprehensive CI plan consists of 8 components: Course, Curriculum, Administration, Faculty, Research, Advising, Facilities, & Support Staff. In order for academic computing programs to achieve a truly comprehensive CI, these CI components must feed into themselves, as well as feed into each other. In this paper, we examine how two large ABET-accredited Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science (CS) programs handle these 8 components in their CI process by conducting 21 semi-structured interviews and following up with an online questionnaire. We use a coding scheme to analyze the results from the interview participants and find that all 8 CI components are recognized across both programs. However, the degree of integration between these components varies greatly with some components being highly coupled and others not being integrated at all. We present the types of data collected and used by the different ECE and CS programs, and we compare these results with those from the academic computing literature. From our analysis, we find that the CI focus is consistently on Curriculum, Course, Faculty, and, to a lesser extent, Administration, while Facilities, Advising, and Support Staff are barely recognized as part of the CI plan.