Experience of Teaching Introduction to Electrical Engineering with an Online Platform

Junfei Li; Jaime Ramos-Salas; Cara Li

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Conference: 2020 First-Year Engineering Experience
Location: East Lansing, Michigan
Publication Date: July 26, 2020
Start Date: July 26, 2020
End Date: July 28, 2020
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--35758
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/35758
Download Count: 373

Paper Authors

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Junfei Li P.E. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

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Dr. Junfei Li is with Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering a the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He was with University of Texas - Pan American from 2002 to 2015.

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Jaime Ramos-Salas The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

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Dr Jaime Ramos-Salas has been teaching Power Engineering courses at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley since 2005. His current research interests are related to Renewable Energy and Engineering Education. He is an active Professional Engineer in the state of Texas. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, and a Member of the ASEE.

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Cara Li Carnegie Mellon University

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Current student majoring in Computer Science

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Abstract

To engage engineering students in their field of studies, it is essential for the students to take major courses as early as possible. However, first year EE major students in our institution don’t have many options as almost all major courses need physics and math courses as prerequisites. For most of our students, the Introduction to Electrical Engineering is available to them as the only Electrical Engineering course during their first semester in college. It is offered to introduce the students to such topics as electrical circuits, digital logic, and robotics. In addition to learning fundamental topics, the students are expected to be get interested in these subjects and motivated to learn more in the following years. Therefore, student success in this course is critical for retention.

It is well-understood that labs and projects with hands-on engineering experiments are indispensable in engineering training. Nowadays web and mobile technologies are playing more and more important roles in student learning. In this study, we focus on our experience of online labs. Specifically, we utilize an online FPGA platform to teach students on the introductory course’s section of Digital Logic Gates The platform provides students with anywhere anytime hardware lab experience at their fingertips. It had been used for both senior level Digital Engineering class and a summer camp for high-school students in the past., Based on the student feedback, we have customized the platform usage specifically for the freshman course in four different ways: 1) as a classroom teaching demo tool for students to see real-time actions from example circuit designs 2) to provide pre-lab exercise for students to practices with logic gates and combinational circuits with instant feedback 3) as a fast prototyping tool in comparison to the traditional breadboard prototyping technique 4) to provide post-lab activities for students to learn more advanced topics outside scheduled class and lab time. Instructor observations, student surveys are used to evaluate the effectiveness of these activities. This study provides guidelines for future curriculum design based on the platform. It will also contribute to the platform design improvement for more effective online lab delivery.

Citation
Format

Li, J., & Ramos-Salas, J., & Li, C. (2020, July), Experience of Teaching Introduction to Electrical Engineering with an Online Platform Paper presented at 2020 First-Year Engineering Experience, East Lansing, Michigan. 10.18260/1-2--35758

TY - CPAPER
AB - To engage engineering students in their field of studies, it is essential for the students to take major courses as early as possible. However, first year EE major students in our institution don’t have many options as almost all major courses need physics and math courses as prerequisites. For most of our students, the Introduction to Electrical Engineering is available to them as the only Electrical Engineering course during their first semester in college. It is offered to introduce the students to such topics as electrical circuits, digital logic, and robotics. In addition to learning fundamental topics, the students are expected to be get interested in these subjects and motivated to learn more in the following years. Therefore, student success in this course is critical for retention.

It is well-understood that labs and projects with hands-on engineering experiments are indispensable in engineering training. Nowadays web and mobile technologies are playing more and more important roles in student learning. In this study, we focus on our experience of online labs. Specifically, we utilize an online FPGA platform to teach students on the introductory course’s section of Digital Logic Gates The platform provides students with anywhere anytime hardware lab experience at their fingertips. It had been used for both senior level Digital Engineering class and a summer camp for high-school students in the past., Based on the student feedback, we have customized the platform usage specifically for the freshman course in four different ways: 1) as a classroom teaching demo tool for students to see real-time actions from example circuit designs 2) to provide pre-lab exercise for students to practices with logic gates and combinational circuits with instant feedback 3) as a fast prototyping tool in comparison to the traditional breadboard prototyping technique 4) to provide post-lab activities for students to learn more advanced topics outside scheduled class and lab time. Instructor observations, student surveys are used to evaluate the effectiveness of these activities. This study provides guidelines for future curriculum design based on the platform. It will also contribute to the platform design improvement for more effective online lab delivery.

AU - Junfei Li P.E.
AU - Jaime Ramos-Salas
AU - Cara Li
CY - East Lansing, Michigan
DA - 2020/07/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Experience of Teaching Introduction to Electrical Engineering with an Online Platform
UR - https://peer.asee.org/35758
DO - 10.18260/1-2--35758
ER -