Reengineering the curriculum: design and analysis of a new undergraduate Electrical and Computer Engineering degree at Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

In the Fall of 1991, after approximately two years of development, the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Camegie Mellon University (CMU) implemented a new curriculum that differed radically from its predecessor. Key features of this curriculum include: Engineering in the Freshman year, a small core of required classes, area requirements in place of most speciJc course requirements, mandated breadth, depth, design, and coverage across ECE technical areas, a relatively large fraction of free electives, and a single integrated Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. In this paper we review the design of this curriculum, including a taxonomy of problems we needed to address, and a set of general principles we evolved to address them. The new curriculum is described in detail, including new data from an ongoing analysis of its impact on students' curricula choices. 'See [l] for a more detailed, contemporaneous account of this process, and [2] for a more recent review.

Integrated Curricula: Purpose and Design

“…Insight can be gained by considering the motivation behind restructuring curricula. Carnegie Mellon 15 wanted to emphasize ideas over technique. They point out that teaching mathematics and science, for example, then adding engineering does not work in part because the students in K-12 are typically weak in mathematics and unmotivated to learn.…”

Introducing Electric Power Into a Multidisciplinary Curriculum for Network Industries

“…• In 1990, a radical change was made in the structure of the curriculum of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department [1]. The goals were to improve dramatically both breadth and access by flattening the hierarchy of courses, increasing the lateral relations among courses, and providing multiple routes through the elementary courses to each advanced course.…”

Freshman design: A signal-processing approach

“…Most such EE courses center around a hardware design experience, including [1,2]. In this paper, we describe an alternative approach that uses software (primarily MATLAB) to provide a platform for experimentation with signals and systems that allows them to do signal design while learning core EE concepts like frequency analysis, filtering and sampling.…”