Freshman Engineering Courses: Discipline Specific vs. Interdisciplinary Approaches

Abstract

This paper contains a contrast and comparison between two approaches to introductory engineering courses. One approach is for each engineering department to offer its own distinct freshman engineering course independent of all other departments. The other approach is to offer an interdisciplinary freshman engineering course common for all engineering students regardless of department. In order to take advantage of the benefits of each approach a new freshman course has been developed at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). The developmental process from problem identification to final course description will be discussed. Also discussed will be the advantages of the newly developed course as compared to the other structures. Departmental Specific Freshman CoursesThis section discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each department within the College of Engineering (COE) having its own distinct freshman engineering course. One advantage of this approach is that each department sets the content of their course. This allows each department to teach the skills and tools that will be needed for students to be successful in the chosen discipline. The Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department, for example, could present a segment in contemporary issues in computer science, while the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department would introduce CAD/CAE applications. Departments could also choose the structure of the course that would best fit the specific departmental objectives. For some departments lab time might be a necessary component while for other departments class lecture time might be a more appropriate format for the course. Again, departments could fit the course to their own objectives.

A Review of Multi-Disciplinary Introduction-to-Engineering Courses and Unified-First-Year Engineering Programs

“…There appears to be a consensus that a standalone intro-freshman engineering course should contain a mix of lectures, labs, and discussion [4,[16][17][18]. One strategy is to begin the course with several-weeks-worth of general modules focused on problem-solving and using computers, followed by shorter (student, self-selected) discipline-specific modules [19].…”

“…Aspiring engineers are particularly interested in hearing from recent graduates (i.e. young professionals); their talks help students to more easily envision "life after school" [17].…”