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Promoting Student Confidence in a First-Year Electrical and Computer Engineering Course

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Conference

2019 FYEE Conference

Location

Penn State University , Pennsylvania

Publication Date

July 28, 2019

Start Date

July 28, 2019

End Date

July 30, 2019

Conference Session

M3A: Learning in Context 1

Tagged Topic

FYEE Conference - Paper Submission

Page Count

7

DOI

10.18260/1-2--33721

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/33721

Download Count

445

Paper Authors

biography

Jennifer Felder Marley Valparaiso University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5234-0224

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Jennifer Marley is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Valparaiso University. She received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering: systems from the University of Michigan. Her research interests include power system optimization and the integration of storage devices and renewable generation.

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biography

Doug Tougaw P.E. Valparaiso University

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Doug Tougaw is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Valparaiso University. His scientific research is in the area of nanotechnology. His pedagogical research interests include creativity, design, ethics, and computer programming.

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Abstract

First-year electrical and computer engineering (ECE) students who have not yet encountered applications in their discipline often struggle to draw connections between the theoretical concepts from their introductory courses and those specific contexts in which they might apply those concepts in their future careers. As such, these students frequently struggle with relating to their courses and may become discouraged or doubt their ability to become an engineer. To address these challenges, the first ECE-specific course at Valparaiso University has been designed to increase the exposure of students to the various ECE sub-disciplines. The specific applications explored by students in this course range from programming microcontrollers to building amplifier circuits to designing and testing complex digital logic circuits, which are subjects not usually covered until the last two years of study. Results are presented that demonstrate several benefits of the wide range of topics covered in this course. These include helping students choose with greater confidence future elective courses and their major, improving the self-confidence of those students who may struggle with relating to more abstract engineering concepts, and maintaining student interest while providing them with the necessary theoretical background for their future studies.

Marley, J. F., & Tougaw, D. (2019, July), Promoting Student Confidence in a First-Year Electrical and Computer Engineering Course Paper presented at 2019 FYEE Conference , Penn State University , Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--33721

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