Motivation and material retention, a spiral program in electrical and computer engineering

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute has been engaged in the development of a new approach to teach basic electrical engineering. Some of these features were quite successful, others presented problems. The program consists of four sequential courses which present the following material: the first course uses demonstrations and mini-projects to give a broad perspective of electrical and computer engineering, the second course gives an introduction to digital circuits, and in the following two courses, the emphasis is on a rigorous treatment of electric circuits, with some discussions on transformers, basic motors and generators, and transmission lines. While the course content is by its nature relatively traditional the approach is guided by the following: (1) Motivate the students in the first courses by presenting the material in an interesting manner using demonstrations and make the connection to practical applications. (2) Improve the material retention of the students by revisiting the basic concepts and applications in previous courses many different times in an increasingly more sophisticated context. (3) Promote the understanding of the material by practical design projects in the laboratory and for homework. Another feature to promote understanding involves verbalization of important concepts, designing appropriate exams, and handling of mathematical relations. In addition, the application of new technology such as multimedia aids and the World Wide Web as a course platform are briefly addressed