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Strengthening Community College Engineering Programs through Alternative Learning Strategies: Developing an Online Engineering Circuits Laboratory Course

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Conference

2017 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Location

Tempe, Arizona

Publication Date

April 20, 2017

Start Date

April 20, 2017

End Date

April 22, 2017

Conference Session

Technical Session 5b

Tagged Topic

Pacific Southwest Section

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--29232

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/29232

Download Count

509

Paper Authors

biography

Thomas Rebold Monterey Peninsula College Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-4346-6938

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Tom Rebold has chaired the Engineering department at Monterey Peninsula College since 2004. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT, and has been teaching online engineering classes since attending the Summer Engineering Teaching Institute at Cañada College in 2012.

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biography

Amelito G Enriquez Canada College Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-1259-0680

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Amelito Enriquez is a professor of Engineering and Mathematics at Cañada College in Redwood City, CA. He received a BS in Geodetic Engineering from the University of the Philippines, his MS in Geodetic Science from the Ohio State University, and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. His research interests include technology-enhanced instruction and increasing the representation of female, minority and other underrepresented groups in mathematics, science, and engineering.

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Erik N Dunmire College of Marin

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Erik Dunmire is a professor of engineering and chemistry at College of Marin. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Davis. His research interests include broadening access to and improving success in lower-division STEM education.

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Nicholas Langhoff Skyline College

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Nicholas Langhoff is an associate professor of engineering and computer science at Skyline College in San Bruno, California. He received his M.S. degree from San Francisco State University in embedded electrical engineering and computer systems. His educational research interests include technology-enhanced instruction, online education, metacognitive teaching and learning strategies, reading apprenticeship in STEM, and the development of novel instructional equipment and curricula for enhancing academic success in science and engineering.

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Tracy Huang Canada College

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Tracy Huang is an educational researcher in STEM at Cañada College. Her research interests include understanding how students become involved, stayed involved, and complete their major in engineering and STEM majors in general, particularly for students in underrepresented populations.

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Abstract

In an effort to extend access to the lower-division engineering curriculum for non-traditional students, three community colleges from Northern California collaborated to develop resources enabling four laboratory-based engineering classes (Intro, Graphics, Circuits, and Materials) to be performed in a remote, online setting, or with limited face-to-face interactions. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program (NSF IUSE), this work builds on prior efforts to provide online access to the lecture-only engineering classes in the lower-division transfer pattern, while also seeking to improve the efficacy of community college engineering programs facing challenges with staffing, scheduling, and fluctuating enrollments. This paper presents results from a second implementation of a one-unit Engineering Circuits Laboratory course, offered alongside the circuit theory course, which is already available in an online format. The course materials cover the use of basic instrumentation (DMM, Oscilloscope), analysis and interpretation of experimental data, circuit simulation, use of MATLAB to solve circuit equations in the real and complex domain, and exposure to the Arduino microcontroller. Results from both implementations are used to generalize outcomes between online vs. face-to-face cohorts, and are contextualized with input from student surveys and interviews on the perception, use and overall satisfaction of the course and its resources.

Rebold, T., & Enriquez, A. G., & Dunmire, E. N., & Langhoff, N., & Huang, T. (2017, April), Strengthening Community College Engineering Programs through Alternative Learning Strategies: Developing an Online Engineering Circuits Laboratory Course Paper presented at 2017 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting, Tempe, Arizona. 10.18260/1-2--29232

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