Conference Session

Curricular Advancements in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Brandi Geisinger, Iowa State University; Arlene de la Mora, Iowa State University; Cori J. Hyde; Diane T. Rover, Iowa State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

each cluster of activities was positioned to create departmental change andrevolutionize engineering education, the evaluators and team members then attempted to identifyhow each cluster of activities worked as change strategies within the model by Henderson,Beach, and Finkelstein (2011). Thus, evaluators were able to identify over twenty distinctclusters of change activities working as change strategies within the four pillars of the changemodel: Curriculum and pedagogy, reflective teachers, policy, and shared vision. Positioningactivities within this model allowed the evaluators and team members to 1) Better understand thebroad scope of departmental activities and change strategies, 2) Identify strengths and challengesassociated with their

Conference Session

Improvements in ECE Circuit Analysis

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Eva Cosoroaba, University of Vermont

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

emission free power generation. Dr Cosoroaba’s current research interest is engineering education with focus on mastery learning, the effect of social networks in the classroom on student learning and efficient implementation of active learning. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2020 Helping Students Write it Right: Instilling Good Report Writing Habits in a Linear Circuit Lab Course I. IntroductionWriting is often not on the top of student’s priority list when it comes to their laboratoryexperience. This is reflected in the quality of the lab reports they submit. While grading andproviding feedback to students on these reports, the instructor often gets

Conference Session

Insights for Teaching ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Kent A. Crick, Iowa State University; Matthew T. Seipel, Iowa State University; Lisa M. Larson Ph.D., Iowa State University; Mack Shelley, Iowa State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

leadership course with otherECSEL participants. This course was designed to promote professional development, communityamongst the scholars, and connection to the campus community at large while enhancing theiridentity as ECSE majors. As a part of the course students were required to volunteer on campus,share current events with their fellow scholars, participate in in-class activities centered onleadership practices, participate in faculty mentor meetings and complete a reflection paper aboutthat experience, and present to the class an artifact reflective of one’s background. Theseactivities were designed to cultivate an environment of support and connection among scholarswhile also engaging participants in an active learning experience. Such

Conference Session

Assessment of Learning in ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Jinhui Wang, University of South Alabama

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

evaluation data are shown in Table 1 and listed in Fig. 1. They arerespectively about (a) the instructor had clear policies (e.g., grading, attendance, and assignments);(b) the instructor provided useful feedback on my progress within the course; (c) the instructor waswell prepared for in class meetings; (d) examinations and other assignments reflected stated courseobjectives and course material; (e) the instructor was successful in clarifying difficult concepts; (f)the instructor was well prepared for online class sessions and activities.Strongly disagree 1 ----- 5 Strongly agree INSTRUCTOR HAS CLEAR POLICIES INSTRUCTOR PROVIDED FEEDBACK 2018 Fall 2019 Spring

Conference Session

Assessment of Learning in ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Bahar Memarian, University of Toronto; Susan McCahan, University of Toronto

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

by the instructor. The evaluation may, or may not, includeproviding formative feedback on the students’ solutions. Instructor • Creates assessment acitivities and guides • Monitors quality of assessment • Tracks problem-solving competency development of students Assessor Student • Evaluates student work by following the • Takes the tests assessment guide • Self-asesses own solution errors before • communicates errors on student viewing the grade or ideal solution solution formatively • Reviews assessor feedback, reflects and

Conference Session

Active and Cooperative Learning in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Werner Creixell, Texas A&M University; Rachelle M. Pedersen, Texas A&M University; Susan Niki Ritchey, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

say engineers are like dogs: if you throw them a bone they will go and fetch it. This crudeanalogy reflects some of the strong qualities of engineers, like problem-solving (fetching thebone), but it also reflects the fact that someone else has to not only throw them the bone, but mustalso choose which bone to throw. Educational techniques and courses for improving initiative,curiosity, creativity, and grit in engineers are becoming increasingly important to prepare them forthe dynamic working environment they will find after graduation. In this work in progress, weexpose the results of a freshman course that has been organized as a project-based learning (PBL)class. It is different from the traditional PBL approach by the fact that the

Conference Session

Embedded Systems and Cybersecurity in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

James Peyton Jones, Villanova University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

respectively and partially wires several components for use in the labs: An externalLED supplements the onboard LED and highlights the need for a current-limiting resistor. Theonboard LED cannot be modulated so the external LED is also used to provide visual feedback(dimming) when studying Pulse-Width-Modulated (PWM) signals. Two external pushbuttonssupplement the onboard pushbuttons and are used to provide digital inputs or to generate edge-triggered hardware interrupts. A Reflective Light Sensor (RLS) acts either as a binary objectdetection sensor, or as an analog input measurement of reflected light. Analog inputs are alsogenerated using a 10K potentiometer to provide a fraction of the 3.3 V power supply. Atransistor together with a flyback diode

Conference Session

Insights for Teaching ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Jie Sheng, University of Washington, Tacoma

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

helped them smoothly into the stage ofsenior project design. Exposing them to the powerful ARM MCUs challenged them with reading thousandsof pages of technical documents, but also trained them to grasp skills required by future industrialprojects. Students’ reflection on this effectiveness will be given later in Section IV.III. Efforts in Meeting Students’ Needs from Different DisciplinesStarting 2017, UWT launched the EE program, and TCES430 was offered to both CES and EE students as abig class. This brought new challenges to effective teaching due to (1) the large class size (2) diverseengineering backgrounds of the student group.Our efforts to ensure students’ learning outcomes include the following: (1) To maximize project-centered

Conference Session

Insights for Teaching ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Laura K. Alford, University of Michigan; Amir Kamil, University of Michigan; Andrew Deorio, University of Michigan

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

’ ratings fromone moment in time to another. Each survey included 13 questions intended to capture a student’soverall sense of community, derived from the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction andFrustration Scale [22]: Thinking about your experiences in your undergraduate studies so far, please indicate how true each statement is for you on a scale of 1 (Not at all true) to 5 (Extremely true). Each question also included a ”Not Applicable” option. 1. I feel a sense of choice and freedom in what I undertake 2. I feel capable at what I do 3. I really like the people I interact with 4. I feel confident that I can do things well 5. I feel that my decisions reflect what I really want

Conference Session

Embedded Systems and Cybersecurity in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Asmit De, Pennsylvania State University; Mohammad Nasim Imtiaz Khan, Pennsylvania State University; Karthikeyan Nagarajan, Pennsylvania State University; Abdullah Ash Saki, Pennsylvania State University; Mahabubul Alam, Pennsylvania State University; Taylor Steven Wood, Pennsylvania State University; Matthew Johnson, Pennsylvania State University; Manoj Varma Saripalli, Pennsylvania State University; Yu Xia, Pennsylvania State University; Stephanie Cutler, Pennsylvania State University; Swaroop Ghosh, Pennsylvania State University; Kathleen M. Hill, Pennsylvania State University; Annmarie Ward

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

from different disciplines 3.14(1.03) 4.14(0.69) Clearly identify the type of knowledge and skills possessed by teammates 3.07(1.07) 4.00(0.82) from other disciplines Accurately recognize goals that reflect the disciplinary backgrounds of 3.00(1.18) 4.00(0.82) other team members Talk about a project design using other discipline language 2.86(1.17) 3.86(1.07)rated as the least confident (M = 2.86). A total of 13 students completed 4 sets of knowledgequestions and confidence level rating in

Conference Session

Improvements in ECE Circuit Analysis

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Kun Yao, University of Georgia; Adel W. Al Weshah, University of Georgia; Nathaniel Hunsu, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

of their own knowing orunderstanding (Schraw, 1998). Such self-awareness reflects in their awareness ofcontent, task and strategic knowledge that are germane to learning (Fin & Tauber,2015). For example, students should be able to monitor and recognize how well theyunderstand engineering content knowledge, calibrate the difficulty level of thelearning tasks, and recognize what strategic learning skills they would need tosucceed (Dunlosky & Rawson, 2012).Research suggests that the levels of students’ self-awareness and self-confidencecould positively or negatively affect learning (Finn & Tauber, 2015). For example,Dunlosky and Rawson found that inaccurate self-evaluation undermines learning andretention (Dunlosky & Rawson

Conference Session

Improvements in ECE Circuit Analysis

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

TomHenry J. Reagan, Colorado School of Mines; Stephanie Claussen, Colorado School of Mines; Eric Lyne

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

tools, and the Internet. The 2005 cutoff date focuses the research on studies whichreflect the current relationship between pedagogy and technology. Furthermore, the selection of2005 as a cutoff reflects the shift that occurred in the field of engineering education research inthe early 2000s toward a more scholarly emphasis (Froyd, Lohmann, Johri, and Olds, 2014). Forexample, in 2003, the ​Journal of Engineering Education​ established new review guidelines forpapers submitted to the journal which reflected the greater expectations for rigorous inquiry inthe field (“History of JEE,” n.d.).The first selection round applied basic criteria intended to remove obviously irrelevant papers —those which do not mention engineering education or electrical

Conference Session

Course Transformation in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Christopher D. Schmitz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Geoffrey L. Herman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Timothy Bretl, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

amanner that the grades themselves will reflect the students’ mastery of the learning objectivesand that higher levels of collaboration during study can be encouraged.The second-chance examThe second-chance exam varies in two aspects from the first-try exam. Of the nine questions,typically two of them will pivot upon one learning objective or shift to an entirely differentlearning objective within the material to be assessed. Also, in the second-chance exam, the helpsheet is removed as a crutch. Students are asked to depend upon memory through practice for therecollection of basic circuit formulae. The remaining seven questions continue the samerandomization procedures as in the first-try exam. In the fall of 2019, each midterm exam wasfollowed

Conference Session

Capstone, Undergraduate Research, and Projects in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Ying Lin, Western Washington University; Steve Sandelin

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

2019 Class 6 5 4Mean 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Questions #1 to #10Figure 7: Student Responses Comparison between 2018 Class and 2019 ClassAssessment Results:Based on the survey results presented in Table 7 and Figure 7, we have made a few keyobservations:  Most students felt that the course project was a valuable experience.  Majority concurred that the course project helped their understanding of the RC circuit responses and the 555 timer. However, a few students from the 2019 class noted that they would hope to have more lecture time to cover the 555 timer functionalities, as reflected

Conference Session

New ECE Laboratories

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Pelin Kurtay, George Mason University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, the amount of solder used for each connection,neatness and shape and the visual inspection of potential cold solder joints, among otherconsiderations. Although many students had soldered before, the training was an opportunity torefresh and refine these skills. All students who had prior soldering experience indicated theybenefited from the training.Lessons Learned by StudentsAs part of the project experience, one requirement was to talk about and submit a summary oflessons learned after the demonstration session. This gave each person in the class an opportunityto reflect on their experience to critically evaluate what they would be doing differently the nexttime they designed a board. Much of the feedback received indicated that students

Conference Session

Assessment of Learning in ECE Courses

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Ahmed Dallal, University of Pittsburgh; April Dukes, University of Pittsburgh; Renee M. Clark, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, University of Pittsburgh. She conducts research on education projects that focus on active learning and engineering professional development. Current research includes the propagation of active learning throughout the Swanson School and the use of systematic reflection and metacognitive activities within coursework. She received the Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and the MS in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western. She has over 25 years of experience as an engineer and analyst in industry and academia. She completed her post-doctoral studies in engineering education at the University of Pittsburgh. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2020

Conference Session

New Developments in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Branimir Pejcinovic, Portland State University; Melinda Holtzman, Portland State University; Phillip Wong, Portland State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

had a serious problem with team dynamics that required the instructor’s intervention.Based on this evaluation, we will place more emphasis on teams’ planning of activities and haveScrum Masters pay closer attention and give more frequent feedback regarding teams’implementation of their plans.These rubrics, as well as ways of using them, are still a work in progress. Keeping teams on trackwith their project management is still a challenge. Some students view it as an unnecessaryburden, which can detract from their motivation. Teams do show improvement over the course offour sprints, but we have to keep reminding them of the importance of this segment of theirproject. Our hope is that this experience will be reflected in more effective

Conference Session

Curricular Advancements in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Douglas W. Jacobson, Iowa State University; Julie Ann Rursch, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

practice of cyber security. While the three technicalcourses focused on weekly lab exercises, this course focuses on giving students contact withguest lecturers from government and industry who work in cyber security. The discussions focusaround current legal and ethical issues that face practitioners every day. Students completeweekly reflection writings and in class activities/discussions that focus on current events and/orguest lecturers’ materials. In addition to the weekly assignments, students will write a researchpaper on a cyber security ethical or legal topic of their choosing. It should also be noted the EEand Cpr E programs are discussing adding this course to their curriculum.Technical Elective CoursesThe electives for the cyber

Conference Session

Embedded Systems and Cybersecurity in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Dominic Zucchini, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Justin Chau, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Matthew Neal Mutarelli, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Missouri State University; Rohit Dua, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

WIMP51 instruction set andcreate a fully functional WIMP51 variation [1]. This exercise provides them a deeperunderstanding of how a microprocessor instruction set is related to its functioning. The 8051 microcontroller family is an outdated technology. New and fastermicroprocessor technologies have been developed including AVR, PIC and ARMmicrocontrollers. Universities have shifted toward teaching these faster microcontrollers. TheUniversity of Texas A&M has updated its curriculum to study ARM-based microcontrollers [3].Savannah State University has transitioned to use advanced PIC controllers in its microcontrollercurriculum [4]. To reflect the progressive industry trend, Missouri S&T has also updated itsmicrocontroller

Conference Session

New ECE Laboratories

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Liang Hong, Tennessee State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

assessed using both direct and indirect measures. Thedirect measure was carried out by the instructor through the evaluation of student work based onthe developed rubrics. The rubrics used in the learning outcome assessment and thecorresponding evaluation results were independent from students’ grades. The indirect measurewas carried out through student surveys that reflect their opinions.Table 2 shows the assessment results with direct measure and displays the percentage of studentswho performed at a satisfactory or exemplary level for each of the outcome indicators. Since themathematical model and the block diagram of the OFDM modulation and demodulation wereintroduced in the class, most students were exemplary in their demonstration of

Conference Session

Curricular Advancements in ECE

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Chad Eric Davis P.E., University of Oklahoma; Paul Moses, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

students that do not contribute adequatelyto the group is the biggest challenge in designing a group-based course curriculum. Aneffective strategy to motivate students to contribute in their group is to implement a peerevaluation system where the students evaluate their group members and themselves.Including a self-evaluation is a critical aspect of the group evaluation because it providesthem an opportunity to reflect on their performance and see where they can improve. Fromyears of experience in analyzing group evaluations, students tend to be honest on self-evaluations and are sometimes even harder on themselves than they are on their groupmembers. The group evaluation system in ECE3873 has the following four categories for the self