Intentional Learning In Core Engineering And Engineering Technology Education

We report a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) case study on the intentional learning in the upper level core electrical engineering sequence in which the same instructor and the same group of students in two similar level technical courses, one with a more traditional instruction delivery and assessment and one with more elements of intentional learning, are compared. Besides regular course assessments and student feedback, we also conduct small group analyses and present results that compare the various aspects of the teaching and learning experience such as teaching effectiveness and student experience. From the study, we can comfortably draw the conclusion that the students are more receptive to the teaching methods that incorporate intentional learning elements. Even with a deficiency in implementing such intentional learning methods as compared to the more traditional passive teaching that an instructor is more familiar with, student perception of learning still scored higher for the teaching method that implements more intentional learning elements. There is also an interesting correlation between students’ classroom activeness to the final grades when more intentional learning elements are involved in teaching. Such correlation tends to disappear in the more traditional passive teaching.