Enhancing Pathways From Community Colleges to Four-Year Schools With a Circuits Course and Lab for Distance Students

Rowdy Sanford; Joe Law; John Crepeau

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Innovative Strategies for Enhancing Engineering Education Across Diverse Learning Environments
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47311

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Paper Authors

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Rowdy Sanford University of Idaho

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B.S. in Electronics Engineering Technology from Central Washington University (2020). M.S. Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho (2023).

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Joe Law University of Idaho

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Joseph D. Law obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1991 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Idaho. His research intere

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John Crepeau University of Idaho orcid.org/0000-0001-7277-1347

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Professor John Crepeau received his BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Utah. After serving as an NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, he began teaching at the University of Idaho. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He has served as Department Chair, Associate Dean and Interim Dean at the University of Idaho.

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Abstract

This project is part of an initiative funded by the board of education in our state aimed at increasing accessibility of intermediate engineering topics to students enrolled at two-year institutions, decreasing their time to graduation, and overall cost of education when transferred to a four-year school. Most community colleges offer an introductory circuits course covering direct current circuits and introducing fundamental topics such as Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s Laws, and so on. Typically, four-year schools offer a second circuits course and accompanying laboratory the second semester of the second year of the. However, community colleges do not offer a second circuits course. The second course in circuits is a prerequisite to all the required third year electrical and computer engineering courses at four-year schools. Therefore, students transferring from community colleges typically take an additional semester to graduate, due to taking the required second circuits course and little else during their first semester at a four-year school.

An online course and accompanying laboratory were developed at a four-year institution that students enrolled at a community college can take and reduce curriculum friction after transferring. The course has pre-recorded lectures, resources, homework, and exams to extend students’ knowledge of circuit analysis. A portable laboratory solution is used by students to perform hands-on exercises. All equipment and materials needed to perform the laboratory exercises are sent to students in a single container. Once the student has completed the laboratory portion of the course, the materials and equipment are re-packed by the student and returned before receiving a final grade. Course topics span from sinusoidal steady-state analysis to transients, transformers, 3-phase power analysis, to a final filtering and Fourier analysis exercise. The laboratory exercises are written to complement the topics from the lectures and provide a physical check on the analysis methods presented during lecture.

A select group of students were able to complete the laboratory exercises and achieve the learning outcomes of the course. Anecdotal evidence from the students indicated they felt comfortable performing the laboratory exercises at home at times that fit into their schedules over a semester. The development of the course is aimed at being a comparable lecture and laboratory for students to fill the gaps in offerings to smooth the transfer from two-year to four-year institutions.

Plan for Submission of the Full Paper The paper will present lecture and laboratory outcomes and topics, equipment selection, laboratory exercise administration, equipment usage, challenges and solutions to manage student progression through material to try and minimize problems that may arise from an incomplete understanding of the laboratory procedures and requirements. The paper will provide results from an anonymous student survey of their experience in the laboratory.

Citation
Format

Sanford, R., & Law, J., & Crepeau, J. (2024, June), Enhancing Pathways From Community Colleges to Four-Year Schools With a Circuits Course and Lab for Distance Students Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47311

TY - CPAPER
AB - This project is part of an initiative funded by the board of education in our state aimed at increasing accessibility of intermediate engineering topics to students enrolled at two-year institutions, decreasing their time to graduation, and overall cost of education when transferred to a four-year school. Most community colleges offer an introductory circuits course covering direct current circuits and introducing fundamental topics such as Ohm’s Law, Kirchhoff’s Laws, and so on. Typically, four-year schools offer a second circuits course and accompanying laboratory the second semester of the second year of the. However, community colleges do not offer a second circuits course. The second course in circuits is a prerequisite to all the required third year electrical and computer engineering courses at four-year schools. Therefore, students transferring from community colleges typically take an additional semester to graduate, due to taking the required second circuits course and little else during their first semester at a four-year school.

An online course and accompanying laboratory were developed at a four-year institution that students enrolled at a community college can take and reduce curriculum friction after transferring. The course has pre-recorded lectures, resources, homework, and exams to extend students’ knowledge of circuit analysis. A portable laboratory solution is used by students to perform hands-on exercises. All equipment and materials needed to perform the laboratory exercises are sent to students in a single container. Once the student has completed the laboratory portion of the course, the materials and equipment are re-packed by the student and returned before receiving a final grade. Course topics span from sinusoidal steady-state analysis to transients, transformers, 3-phase power analysis, to a final filtering and Fourier analysis exercise. The laboratory exercises are written to complement the topics from the lectures and provide a physical check on the analysis methods presented during lecture.

A select group of students were able to complete the laboratory exercises and achieve the learning outcomes of the course. Anecdotal evidence from the students indicated they felt comfortable performing the laboratory exercises at home at times that fit into their schedules over a semester. The development of the course is aimed at being a comparable lecture and laboratory for students to fill the gaps in offerings to smooth the transfer from two-year to four-year institutions.

Plan for Submission of the Full Paper
The paper will present lecture and laboratory outcomes and topics, equipment selection, laboratory exercise administration, equipment usage, challenges and solutions to manage student progression through material to try and minimize problems that may arise from an incomplete understanding of the laboratory procedures and requirements. The paper will provide results from an anonymous student survey of their experience in the laboratory.

AU - Rowdy Sanford
AU - Joe Law
AU - John Crepeau
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Enhancing Pathways From Community Colleges to Four-Year Schools With a Circuits Course and Lab for Distance Students
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47311
ER -