Work in progress - a freshman course for engineering and computer science students

Griffin, O. Hayden; Fox, Everett; Ribbens, Calvin J.; Walker, Thomas D.; Davis, Nicole; Goff, Richard; Lo, Jenny; Lohani, Vinod K.; Gregg, Michael; Barnette, Dwight

doi:10.1109/fie.2004.1408604

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…It has been widely recognized by engineering educators that the capstone design experience itself is not sufficient for students to develop a thorough understanding of the engineering design process [1][2][3]. There have been numerous successful efforts in exploring efficient methods to integrate engineering design education into the first year curriculum in undergraduate programs [4][5][6][7]. According to Sheri Sheppard and Rollie Jenison's study [8], one of the most important reasons for an increase in design practice at the freshman level is the "Recognition of Freshman Attrition."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative Project Based Learning To Enhance Freshman Design Experience In Digital Engineering

Dong

Warter-Perez

2009 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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One great challenge for engineering education is to increase the retention rate for freshman and sophomore students. In 2008, CSULA received an NSF CCLI grant to redesign the Introduction to Digital Engineering course to enhance students' interest in engineering by exposing them to fun hands-on in class projects. The proposed course redesign employs the Tablet PC-based Collaborative Project-Based Learning model (CPBL) that has been proven to be effective in our upper division computer engineering courses. This paper presents our current progress on the CCLI project. To study the impact of the CPBL model in freshman/sophomore level courses, a series of interactive in-class projects was developed that: 1) stimulate students' learning and make them more engaged in the classroom; 2) tie the theory taught in class to real-world design experience; and 3) provide a clearer insight into possible engineering careers. So far five in-class projects using Verilog HDL design, simulation, and synthesis with Xilinx FPGA boards have been developed in our course redesign effort. In this paper, we will share our practice on how to incorporate the projects into the classroom instruction to deepen the students' understanding of number systems, logic function simplification, and combinational/sequential logic design. In addition to focusing on a fundamental concept in digital design, each project progressively introduces different aspects of the design process. Preliminary assessment results are presented to show the impact of the in-class design project on student learning outcomes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative Project Based Learning To Enhance Freshman Design Experience In Digital Engineering

Dong

Warter-Perez

2009 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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“…Project-based Learning (PBL) pedagogy has attracted the attention of many educators in engineering fields [4]. In recent years, PBL has been incorporated into a variety of courses and curriculums (from freshman-level to upper division specialization courses) in different engineering disciplines [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Compared to the traditional lecture-based instruction, PBL provides a more student-centered learning environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Collaborative Project Based Learning In Digital Engineering Based On Program Assessment

Dong¹,

Warter-Perez²

2010 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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This paper presents the assessment results and findings of the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored CCLI project, entitled "Collaborative Project-based Learning to Enhance Freshman Design Experience in Digital Engineering." During the first year of the project, a series of interactive in-class projects using a Tablet PC based platform have been developed and implemented in our Introduction to Digital Engineering classes taught in Fall 2008, Winter 2009, and Spring 2009. So far over 100 students were impacted by our proposed Collaborative Project-Based Learning (CPBL) model. To quantify the effect of the course redesign on student learning, comprehensive evaluation using both direct and indirect assessment instruments was conducted. The assessment efforts were led by an expert from the College of Education, and the evaluation was based on class observation, comparison study of student performance, pre and post student surveys, as well as focus groups. While both quantitative and qualitative assessment results will be presented and analyzed, the focus of the paper will be the lessons learned through the first year experience from both the student and faculty perspectives. Overall, the students' feedback on CPBL has been very positive. Most students considered the in-class projects the most valuable and helpful parts in their learning. Through the in-class projects, they not only gained better understanding of the course material and the design process, but also developed stronger interest in engineering careers. Nevertheless, the assessment findings also indicated a few challenges to be addressed. In this paper, we will describe how to continuously improve the implementation of CPBL, how to adjust the teaching strategy and plans to revise in-class projects to be implemented in academic year 2009-2010.

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“…This paper mainly discusses the reformulation of a first semester freshman engineering course, called Engineering Exploration ENGE1024, in the GE program. In fact, over the past seven years, the first-year courses in the GE program have evolved from somewhat standard problem solving (including statics, electrical engineering, material balance concepts), graphics, and programming courses to a format that emphasizes early design and realization, collaborative learning, and highly interactive classroom environments 3,4,5,6 . Beginning in fall 2002, College of Engineering (COE) required all engineering freshmen to own laptop computers, which were immediately incorporated into the classroom environment.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Full Implementation Of A New Format For Freshman Engineering Course At Virginia Tech

Lo¹,

Lohani²,

Griffin³

2006 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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Work in progress - a freshman course for engineering and computer science students

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

Collaborative Project Based Learning To Enhance Freshman Design Experience In Digital Engineering

Collaborative Project Based Learning To Enhance Freshman Design Experience In Digital Engineering

Improving Collaborative Project Based Learning In Digital Engineering Based On Program Assessment

Full Implementation Of A New Format For Freshman Engineering Course At Virginia Tech

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