Humanitarian engineering curriculum: Defining student learning outcomes

The Colorado School of Mines through funding of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has established a curricular program in Humanitarian Engineering. As part of this program, four initiatives have been undertaken: 1) redesign of a core, required course for all majors, 2) establishment of an Area of Special Interest in Humanitarian Engineering, 3) establishment of a Minor in Humanitarian Studies and Technology, and 4) establishment of a Minor in Humanitarian Engineering. Decisions within this curricular development effort have been guided by the existence of a coherent and obtainable set of student learning outcomes. Faculty members are currently learning to use teaching and assessment techniques that support the attainment of these outcomes in their classroom. This paper describes the desired student outcomes for the Humanitarian Engineering program and how these outcomes have been used to guide the development of the curriculum for this program.