New teaching approaches and student motivation lead to documented gains in engineering education

The paper presents an integrated design for the undergraduate course Semiconductor Circuit Design of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). This course lays the foundations for understanding new technologies which are increasingly present in everyday life. To ensure that graduates in electrical engineering are well trained in this area, it is particularly important to understand the concepts and relationships introduced in this course. A study of the exam results identified basic mathematical problems as hindering student performance. In the spirit of constructive alignment the course´s learning objectives were reviewed and teaching methods were selected to address these deficiencies, to which end new didactic concepts have been introduced in lecture and tutorials. A novel aspect of the course design has been the integration of lecture and tutorial sessions. Homework assignments have been designed to support continuous learning using two components: One part being a review of previous tutorial sessions and the other part preparing the forthcoming lectures. The goals of these innovations are: 1) Students learn continuously throughout the semester 2) Students obtain a deep and sustained understanding of the concepts introduced in the course 3) Students can explain the working principles of various MOS (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) devices in different circuits Lectures were expanded by the introduction of concept questions using an audience response systems (ARS) in combination with Peer Instruction periods. This way students and teachers engaged in a feedback loop providing both, students and instructors, information about the learning status of the students. In addition, attention of students during the lectures increased. Furthermore video recordings of the lecture, student discussion forums and additional exercises and tests were made available. The new teaching methods were evaluated by monitoring results of the written examination and student satisfaction.- Both have improved significantly. The examination results improved in particular for problems probing concept understanding. Participation in some of the optional offers made to students was very high.