Session 12b5
ECE 21: A New Curriculum in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Kevin Scoles
Nihat Bilgutay
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Abstract – The Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department at Drexel University has revised and completely
restructured the 5-year coop degree in Electrical
Engineering. The new curriculum, called ECE 21, provides
depth and breadth in subject area, with significant flexibility
in course choices and concentrations. Concentrations, or
tracks, have been defined in the subject areas of Computers,
Controls and Robotics, Electric Power and Energy,
Electronics, and Telecommunications. Our curriculum
delivers design and laboratory experiences throughout the
five years and enhances teamwork and communications
skills. Assessment instruments are in place to insure that the
ECE 21 curriculum will improve on a continuous basis.
Nomenclature
Core Elective: A pre-junior or junior course from outside the
student’s track
E4: Enhanced Educational Experience for Engineers
Pre-junior: The third year of the five-year Drexel program
with coop
Term: Drexel has 10-week quarters and one week for final
exams
tDEC: The Drexel Engineering Curriculum, the current title
of the first and second year curriculum in engineering
Motivations for Change
Drexel University’s College of Engineering began to make
fundamental changes to its curriculum with the Enhanced
Educational Experience for Engineers, or E4, program in
1989 [1 - 3]. What began as an experimental program in
redesigning the first two years of engineering was in 1994
institutionalized for all entering students as “The Drexel
Engineering Curriculum,” or tDEC. In 1989, 100 students
were accepted into the E4 program. Over 700 students
participated in this program in the fall of 1998. While some
of the details of the E4 program have evolved in the
intervening years, the philosophy remains essentially the
same. The first years of the curriculum should deliver
“engineering up front,” integrate the basic sciences and
engineering, provide hands-on engineering design and
laboratory experience, and enhance communications and
teamwork skills. Comparisons of the first two years of the
traditional and new curricula are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
Descriptions of the tDEC courses can be found at
http://wwwtdec.coe.drexel.edu/.
The success of the new tDEC curriculum [4] stimulated
all departments, through the College Curriculum Committee,
to examine their upper level curricula, and a common
framework for curriculum change was developed. An
example of the template is shown in Table 3. Each of the
departments in the College was free to design their new
programs within the framework.
Within the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Department, we considered several motivations for
curriculum change. Among these were:
• Students coming to the upper level curriculum had
different experience and expertise. We thought that we
should adapt to make use and enhance these skills.
• A review of the curriculum had not been done for many
(~15) years.
Table 1. Years 1 and 2 (Terms 1 – 5) of the Traditional Curriculum for Electrical and Computer Engineers
1
Chemistry I
Calculus I
Seminar
Humanities I
Intro to Programming
2
Chemistry II
Calculus II
Physics I
Humanities II
Computer Aided
Design
3
Biology or
Chemistry III
Calculus III
Physics II
Humanities III
4
Computer Logic
Calculus IV
Physics III
5
Electric Circuits
Linear Algebra
Physics IV
Principles of
Economics I
Principles of
Economics II
Fundamentals of
Materials
Thermodynamics
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November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
12b5-10
Session 12b5
Table 2. Years 1 and 2 (Terms 1 – 5) of the ECE 21 Curriculum for Electrical and Computer Engineers
1
Mathematical
Foundations of
Engineering
4
Computer Logic
Systems I
Energy I
Materials I
5
Electric Circuits
Systems II
Energy II
Materials II
2
3
Physical
Foundations
of
Engineering
Humanities I
Chemical and
Biological
Foundations of
Engineering
Humanities II
Engineering Design
and Laboratory
Humanities III
Evaluation and
Presentation of
Experimental Data
• Students had been expressing frustration with the
workload, especially in the junior year program. This
had been picked up through the advising system and
through exit interviews with seniors.
• New teaching tools and new technologies had
developed
courses.
• We would consider not trying to teach everything to
everyone. Ours is not the only ECE department
considering or implementing this idea [5].
• We would provide a system that lets students make
more choices
Development
There was considerable debate in committee and among
the faculty when we began this revision project. Some of
these questions were:
Within our departmental curriculum committee, we
considered several major conceptual changes:
• We wanted to bring ideas of hands-on or experiential
learning, integration of computer tools, teamwork, etc.
to the upper level curriculum. This would address the
new capabilities of the students entering the upper level
• What topics or courses make up the “core” of a
discipline?
• How could you graduate someone with an EE degree
without EM fields, machines, devices, or other
traditional topic?
Table 3. The Drexel Engineering Curriculum Template as Adapted for Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Drexel Engineering Curriculum Template
1
2
3
Mathematical
Foundations of
Engineering
Physical
Foundations of
Engineering
Chemical and
Biological
Foundations of
Engineering
Engineering Design
and Laboratory
Liberal Studies and
Seminar
Systems
Energy
Materials
Introductory
Professional
Courses
Evaluation &
Presentation of
Experimental Data
4
5
6
7
8
9
Interdisciplinary
Courses
(4 Courses, 4
credits each)
Technical Core
(8 Courses, 4 credits each)
ECE Laboratories
(4 Courses, 2 credits
each)
Liberal Studies
(7 Courses, 3 credits
each)
10
11
Senior Design
Advanced
Track
Sequence
ECE Technical Electives
Free Electives
12
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November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
12b5-11
Session 12b5
Table 4. Plan of Study for the Electronics Track
1
2
3
Electronics Track by Term
Chemical and
Physical
Biological
Foundations of
Foundations of
Engineering
Engineering
9 cr
9 cr
Mathematical
Foundations of
Engineering
9 cr
Engineering
Design
Laboratory
Liberal Studies
and Seminar
11 cr
12 cr
Computer Logic
3 cr
Electric Circuits
3 cr
Evaluation &
Presentation of
Experimental
Data 8 cr
HIST 285
Technology in
Historical
Perspective 3 cr
PHIL 315
Engineering
Ethics 3 cr
4
Systems I 3 cr
Energy I 3 cr
Materials I 3 cr
5
Systems II 3 cr
Energy II 3 cr
Materials II 3 cr
6
MCS 279 Math
Modeling for
Engineers 4 cr
ECE-S302
Transform
Methods 4 cr
ECE-E302
Electronic
Devices 4 cr
ECE-L301 ECE
Lab. I 2 cr
MCS 279 Vector
and Complex
Analysis 4 cr
ECE-S490 Errors,
Uncertainty,
Reliability 4 cr
Core Elective 4 cr
ECE-L302 ECE
Lab. II 2 cr
Core Elective 4 cr
ECE-L303 ECE
Lab. III 2 cr
Liberal Elective
3 cr
Core Elective 4 cr
ECE-L304 ECE
Lab. IV 2 cr
Liberal Elective
3 cr
ECE Tech.
Elective 3 cr
Free Elective 3
cr
Liberal Elective
3 cr
9
ID Elective 4 cr
10
Senior Design 2
cr
ECE-E352
Analog
Electronics 4 cr
ECE-E304 EM
Fields and Waves
4 cr
ECE-E354
Wireless &
Optical
Electronics 4 cr
Adv Electronics I
4 cr
11
Senior Design 2
cr
Adv Electronics II
3 cr
ECE Tech.
Elective 3 cr
Free Elective 3
cr
Liberal Elective
3 cr
12
Senior Design 4
cr
Digital
Electronics 4 cr
ECE Tech.
Elective 3 cr
Free Elective 3
cr
Liberal Elective
3 cr
7
8
• How can we make our courses more hands-on, and how
many should be hands-on?
• How should we provide advising in the new system?
• How do we modify or develop so many new courses?
• Can we sustain sufficient enrollments in five separate
ECE tracks?
Results
The result of our faculty deliberations is a new curriculum
that we call “ECE 21.” ECE 21 has been phased-in over a
three-year period, and now with this year’s senior courses, is
completely in place. Many new courses have been
developed, such as Introduction to Digital Signal Processing,
Energy Management Systems, and Computer Control that
were not available in the traditional curriculum. Other
courses have been revised to include new computer tools or
laboratories.
Tracks
The new curriculum has a set of paths, or “tracks,” which
follow the educational interests and research expertise of our
faculty. The tracks are Computers, Controls/Robotics,
Electric
Power
and
Energy,
Electronics,
and
Telecommunications. The tracks begin in the third (prejunior) year and run through the senior year. Each student
must complete one track. With their technical and free
elective choices, students can complete a second track, or
choose courses from several tracks to suit their particular
goals. Thus we can provide depth in a particular area, as well
as breadth across many topical areas.
An example study plan for the Electronics Track is
shown in Table 4. The courses in circuits, transforms,
devices, circuits, and fields in terms 6 through 9 are
descended from those in the traditional curriculum.
However, courses in communications, controls, and
0-7803-5643-8/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE
November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
12b5-12
Session 12b5
machines, which were mandatory in the traditional
curriculum, are now optional.
The plans of study for the other four ECE 21 tracks, as
well as the course descriptions, can be seen on the ECE web
site, http://www.ece.drexel.edu/ECE/ece_curricula.html.
The junior year (terms 8 and 9) workload has been
reduced from the four ECE courses in the traditional
curriculum to two ECE courses, an ID course, and a 2-credit
lab.
Laboratories
The ECE Laboratory sequence is a new feature of the ECE
21 Curriculum. The laboratories in the third and fourth years
deliver hands-on experience in each of the track areas. They
are important in developing the breadth of each student’s
knowledge, since they will have lectures and experiments
from outside their track each term. Each course has one hour
of lecture and two hours in a computer lab or experimental
lab per week. This approach provides laboratory and/or
design project experience to our students throughout the
curriculum (i.e. every term).
Interdisciplinary Courses
The purpose of the interdisciplinary (ID) courses is to return
some of the basic science and mathematics that had been
removed from the 1st and 2nd years of the traditional
curriculum (i.e. “inverted curriculum”). Examples of ID
courses are:
• Mathematical Modeling for Engineers, which has as its
primary content Linear Algebra with engineering
applications, and is taught by the Mathematics and
Computer Science (MCS) Department.
• Errors, Uncertainty, and Reliability covers topics in
probability, and is taught by the Electrical and
Computer Engineering Department.
• Vectors and Complex Analysis, taught by the MCS
Department.
• Programming for Engineering and Science (C
language), taught by the MCS Department.
The first three of these course are used to meet the
ABET Program Criteria requirements for Electrical
Engineering degrees. Other courses that have been
developed by the Gateway Engineering Foundation
Coalition schools are also being considered for adoption as
ID courses (Manufacturing, Environmental Engineering,
Bioengineering).
Discussion
In ECE 21, students can freely choose their track. Currently,
the Computer and Telecommunications tracks are the most
popular, followed by Electronics, Controls/Robotics and
Electric Power, in that order. The flexibility tends to make
class size and teaching load predictions more uncertain than
in the traditional curriculum where you knew, for example,
that every junior on campus would be taking
Communications Theory in the term it was taught.
Some of our students have spoken of feeling like guinea
pigs, and in a sense they are, especially our seniors, who
have been the first to go through the new curriculum.
However, some of the seniors who graduated last June
expressed regret that they did not have access to the choices
and new courses available to the classes behind them.
Curriculum assessment will have a major role in
improving the new curriculum. A new course evaluation
process is in place (to be presented at FIE ‘99) to assess
student attitudes of their competency in core technical areas,
as well as course structure and faculty performance. Our
practice of doing senior exit interviews will continue.
Results of student evaluations by co-op employers are being
collected, and alumni follow-up is planned. ECE 21 has been
presented to the ECE Visiting Committee with favorable
responses.
Conclusions
We have revised and completely restructured the 5-year
coop degree in Electrical Engineering. This is perhaps the
first EE degree program with this structure. The ECE 21
Curriculum provides depth and breadth in subject area, with
significant flexibility in course choices and concentrations.
Our curriculum delivers design and laboratory experiences
throughout the five years and enhances teamwork and
communications skills. Students can do minors, dual majors,
or pre-professional preparation with the flexibility attained.
Following our assessment efforts we will report on the
outcomes of the new curriculum.
References
1.
2.
3.
Fromm, E. and Quinn, R., "An Experiment to Enhance
the Educational Experience of Engineering Students,"
Engineering Education, April 1989, pp. 424-429.
Fromm, E. and Quinn, R., "An Enhanced Educational
Experience for Engineering Students," Innovation in
Undergraduate Engineering Education, M. E.
VanValkenberg,
ed.,
Engineering
Foundation
Conference Proceedings, August 1989, pp. 15-30.
Quinn, R., "Drexel's E4 Program: A Different
Professional Experience for Engineering Students and
Faculty." Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 82, no.
4, October 1993.
0-7803-5643-8/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE
November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
12b5-13
Session 12b5
4.
5.
Bilgutay, N., and Mutharasan, R., “The Drexel
Engineering Curriculum: From E4 Experiment to
Gateway Institutionalization,” Realizing the New
Paradigm for Engineering Education, Edward W. Ernst
and Irene C. Peden, eds., Engineering Foundation
Conference Proceedings Baltimore, MD, June 3-6,
1998, pp. 66-75.
“BSEE/BSCpE
Requirements
Changed”,
ECE
Connection, The Bradley Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, March 1998.
Also available at http://www.ee.vt.edu/ecenews/
march98/require.html.
0-7803-5643-8/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE
November 10 - 13, 1999 San Juan, Puerto Rico
29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
12b5-14