Experience Teaching Circuit Courses to Civil Engineers

Abstract

At the University of Waterloo, students from many non-electrical engineering programs are required totake basic circuits courses. These courses are often disliked by students who do not see their relevance andcannot contextualize the material. In 2019 a new version of this course was developed to cater to the specific needs of civil engineering students. The new course was based around teaching civil engineers circuit theory through relevant examples and focusing on the content that civil engineers would reasonably be expected to see in the field. Lab exercises were developed to encourage independent capacity in circuit building and deep understanding of sensors and instrumentation. Student satisfaction with the course and performance on assessments has increased with the changes.