Title :
A successful motivational freshman design experience using attached learning
Author :
Yokomoto, Charles F. ; Rizkalla, Maher E. ; O´Loughlin, Carol L. ; Lamm, Nancy
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN, USA
Abstract :
Considerable interest has been shown in improving retention rates and motivation by improving student satisfaction, particularly at the freshman level. In this paper, we describe a new, team-taught, interdisciplinary, design-oriented introduction to engineering course that has proven to be a very successful motivational experience for first-year electrical engineering and mechanical engineering majors. The course is technically based since the primary goal of the course is still to assist students in selecting between electrical engineering and mechanical engineering as a major, but we have completely revised the process of selecting course contents and the instructional methods. To guide us in the selection of course contents, the faculty team developed the concept of "attached learning", wherein all materials selected for the course must be applicable, or attached, to the end-of-semester design project to make learning relevant and to motivate students to learn. Evidence of the success of the new course is presented.
Keywords :
educational courses; electrical engineering education; mechanical engineering; attached learning; course contents selection; end-of-semester design project; first-year electrical engineering students; first-year mechanical engineering students; introduction to engineering course; motivational freshman design experience; student motivation; student retention rates; student satisfaction; team-taught interdisciplinary design-oriented course; Collaborative software; Design engineering; Electrical engineering; Linear circuits; Mathematics; Mechanical engineering; Microcomputers; Problem-solving; Recruitment; Thermodynamics;
Conference_Titel :
Frontiers in Education Conference, 1998. FIE '98. 28th Annual
Conference_Location :
Tempe, AZ, USA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4762-5
DOI :
10.1109/FIE.1998.736902