"Materials and Processes in the Plastics Industry" is a three credit-hour course at Northern Illinois University within the Department of Technology. Is an introductory course in plastics technology designed to familiarize the student with the basic plastics/polymers. The course has been reorganized to focus the learning process around the student and specific student-learning objectives and outcomes connected to curriculum topics and various types of learning assessments. Higher-level objectives that stress designing, planning, judging, and analyzing are emphasized. Teaching is partially shifted to group learning and techniques are suggested to maximize the individual's performance in a group setting. Scoring rubrics are part of the assessment system. Traditional examination questions are retained but now each question is connected to a specific student-learning objective. Examples of learning objectives, syllabus content, a performance task, assessment rubric, and examination questions are presented for this, or any, introductory plastics course. The focus of this discussion is the preparation of such reorganization, as the course has not yet been implemented in this newer format. Future data from several offerings of this course should be analyzed and utilized to make continuous improvements.
