A Multi Faceted First Year Electrical And Computer Engineering Course

An innovative course at the University of Cincinnati combines introductory level technical materials with the development of academic survival skills and a hands-on laboratory experience to produce an Introduction to Electrical and Computer (ECE) course for incoming freshmen. The course, which is offered to ECE freshmen in their first term, is designed to promote retention of engineering freshmen via several avenues. First, the course allows students to become acquainted with their major early in the curriculum. Beyond introducing the sub-disciplines of ECE, students engage in a variety of activities that are designed to introduce them to the people and resources that will help them succeed, including: professors in their major, academic advisors, deans, engineering librarians, national/international co-operative education advisors, ECE upperclassmen, and leaders in the engineering student organizations. Second, the course promotes freshmen retention by highlighting the skills and technologies that ECE students learn after completion of math and science core courses. Finally, experiments in the lab portion of the course promote freshmen retention by showing students that engineering is fun!