A Change In Approach To Engineering Computing For Freshmen Similar Directions At Three Dissimilar Institutions

Introductory computing courses for engineering students at Tufts University, the University of Colorado, and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) have undergone revision and development over the past year. Although the scope of these courses differs among the three institutions, similar threadlines have emerged. These include emphases on engineering problem solving, elementary numerical methods, and algorithmic programming. Software vehicles include Mathcad, Matlab, and, in particular, Excel and its VBA programming language. Use of a traditional, stand-alone programming language, such as Fortran or C/C++, is postponed beyond these introductory courses. There are strong, relevant pedagogical and practical bases for this common approach and results from initial course offerings are most promising.