Work-in-progress: Identifying unit operations laboratory curriculum needs

ABSTRACT

A knowledge gap exists between what is taught in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum and what is needed in terms of knowledge, skills, and attributes for industry. ABET has worked towards characterizing curriculum needs by specifying seven student outcomes that were developed by their more than 2,200 experts from academia, government and industry. While useful in curriculum assessment, these outcomes are broad and do not provide details about what should be incorporated into specific courses. The National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers surveyed 507 individuals from industry and academia to identify more specific skills needed for graduates going into industry. In addition to process safety and process dynamic knowledge, results suggested the need for skills in communication, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, open-ended task analysis, problem solving, and time management. These skills are often taught through the unit operations laboratory. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty were forced to evaluate the learning outcomes of unit operations laboratory courses, allowing them to think more explicitly about how to address those gaps identified through the previous study. Moving forward, faculty have the opportunity to redesign the course to meet the needs of industry. Surveying unit operations laboratory stakeholders will offer a more targeted approach to making the necessary changes in course content. This includes surveying 1. Faculty on their perceptions of the key learning outcomes of the unit operations laboratory, 2. Industry on the knowledge, skills and attributes that should be taught in the laboratory, and 3. Students on what gaps exist in the chemical engineering curriculum that could be filled by the laboratory. The results of these surveys will provide information that will help balance the breadth and depth of content necessary while incorporating updates to address stakeholder needs. This work-in-progress paper will detail the development of these three surveys. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.