Abstract:

The author of this paper is a university Professor of Electrical Engineering who is at retirement age. In 2001, he was the recipient of the prestigious SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Before retiring, he would like to list and discuss several methods that he used to improve education when teaching electrical engineering courses, such as Circuit Analysis, Electronics, Signals and Systems and Automatic Control.

Not surprisingly, the paper starts by addressing the importance of establishing a fair, friendly, and inclusive class environment, where students are free to ask questions and express their opinions without fear of sounding unintelligent or feeling lack of belonging. This is accomplished by a) using the novel concept of “Mini Society”; b) describing the multi-layer process of learning difficult engineering concepts by using the “Peeling an Onion” analogy; and c) defining the course objectives and the student learning objective, and clearly explaining the difference between them.

Next, the paper focuses on the importance of setting up a platform-based course structure, and- seemingly paradoxical- of allowing a certain degree of chaos within a specific component of the structure. Namely, the course is carefully divided into modules, each one containing a different design mini project to be performed by student teams. However, when brainstorming in class on a given mini project, chaos is not only allowed, but also welcome, as it strengthens the dynamics of argumentation.

The old, easy-path practice of assigning homework exercises from the course textbook must be completely abandoned. Instead, it is highly recommended that the instructor creates design mini projects that are closely aligned with the material discussed in class. Although this practice involves a significant effort from the instructor, it makes it possible for the students to prepare for examinations while they are learning from the mini project planning and execution. Testing students on knowledge acquired on the mini projects allows for accurate assessment of individuals within a project team.

Finally, the course mini projects use MATLAB or Spice simulation to verify student design. A sought match between theoretical calculations and simulation has the advantage of providing students with automatic feedback on their understanding of the theory related to the project. However, as educationally powerful simulation is, it has its limitations. In fact, students need to develop the ability to generate a theoretical expectation for simulation outcomes prior to performing the simulation. This paper will provide examples where omitting a theoretical expectation leads to simulation mistakes that are completely undetected by students.

Keywords:

Collaborative and Problem-based Learning, Creativity and Design Thinking.