Developing And Implementing A Facilities Plan For A Freshmen Engineering Course Sequence

The College of Engineering at The Ohio State University has recently implemented new freshman engineering course sequences for all engineering freshman. Facilities for two tracks of the freshman engineering courses need to accommodate approximately 1,100 students per year. Approximately three-fourths of the honors qualified students (0.75*330=252) are expected to select an honors track (Freshman Engineering Honors, FEH) consisting of three courses, one each quarter for the academic year. The remaining students (approximately 850) follow the regular track (Introduction to Engineering, IE) and take a two-course sequence. It is assumed that regular track students can follow a pattern of either AU,WI; AU,SP; or WI,SP for the two course sequence. This allows for some leveling of instructional load across the year while still allowing all students to complete the sequence in the freshman year. Students not fully calculus-ready are offered a one-credit class AU and follow the WI, SP pattern. Some programs, computer science in particular, want the option for students to take a first programming course WI quarter. This fits well with an AU, SP pattern for the two courses.