Engaging Electrical and Computer Engineering Freshman Students with an Electrical Engineering Practicum

A large percentage of students in engineering programs switch their majors in the first two years. Some of statistics are due to teaching approaches that are not suitable for current populations of students that learn and acquire new knowledge quite differently from those of earlier generations. Several new pedagogical paradigms have been proposed to improve engineering education, such as the use of “hands-on” tools to change the learning style in the engineering classroom to more engaging teaching pedagogies. An approach that is being used to engage and inspire the electrical and computer engineering freshman students is the Electrical Engineering Practicum. In this paper, the researchers discuss the various laboratory experiments performed by the students, the knowledge and skill learnt by the students, the lessons learned while introducing Analog Discovery board into the freshman curriculum. Survey results indicate that students are benefiting from the use of the (ADB). A high percentage of students indicated that the use of the (ADB) was suited to their learning needs, and that the (ADB) motivated them to learn the course content. In addition, the students' base knowledge increased as the result of use of the (ADB). Furthermore, through the integration of the Electrical Engineering Practicum and the (ADB), the students developed interest in the course, developed skills in working collaboratively with fellow students, developed confidence in the content area. Moreover, the students developed attitudes of self-direction and self-responsibility.