Professional Perspectives:
Electronic Engineering
Paul Spencer
Dean of School, Electronic Engineering
Kal Winston*
Adviser, Study Skills Centre
Initial Action
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Meetings between Engineering and SSC staff
Exam Review workshop with students
Examination of sample dissertations & reports
Difficulties appear to include
– Study skills, approaches to learning
– Critical thinking
– Academic literacy
– Application of ideas
– Following instructions
– Self-discipline
Professional Perspectives
• 10-credit first year, first-term module
• 12 x 2-hour sessions
• Aims:
– Assist students with their approach to other
modules, and help them develop the skills needed
to succeed in Electronic Engineering courses.
– Provide students with transferable skills needed
for employment as engineering professionals.
Group/Individual
• Students randomly assigned to a small group
of 4 students, work together throughout the
module.
• Assess both individual and group work.
• Groups meet between classes (minimum of
four meetings), members take turns recording
minutes.
Weekly workshops on…
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Time management
Critical questioning
Working with lectures
Explaining terminology
Library resources
Referencing and
plagiarism
• Exam techniques
• Writing minutes
• Data analysis
– limits, scales, errors,
dimensional analysis
• Report writing –
structure, writers’ moves
• Draft reports
– Peer-assessment
– Formative feedback
• Presentation skills
– Creating and using rubrics
Assessment 1, Project
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Project Report, 2500 words - 40%
10% for submission of draft report
30% for final report
Groups select their own project topics.
Each group crafts a clear research question,
which is then divided into one sub-question
per group member.
• Most sessions include work contributing
towards final project.
Assessment 1, Project
• Week 3, groups submit project brief, outlining
their project, stating their research questions.
• Each group member writes a report on his/her
chosen sub-question.
• Week 7, individuals submit draft version of
their individual reports
– Grade each other’s drafts using rubric
– General feedback on common errors
• Final versions of the report submitted 3 weeks
later.
Assessment 2, Portfolio
20% of module grade, tasks based on weekly workshops
• Build ‘generic skills’ and skills for project
– Time management
• module assessments, project milestones
– Asking questions
• explore lectures, create research questions
– Define and explain terminology
• from lectures, key project concepts
– Library resources, references, plagiarism, paraphrasing
• summary of and references for two scientific reports
– Data analysis assignments
• feel for equations, data presentation
– Minutes from group meetings, contributions to discussion
forums, module reflection, Peerwise
Assessment 2, Portfolio
20% of module grade, tasks based on weekly workshops
• Build ‘generic skills’ and skills for project
– Time management
• module assessments, project milestones
– Asking questions
• explore lectures, create research questions
– Define and explain terminology
• from lectures, key project concepts
– Library resources, references, plagiarism, paraphrasing
• summary of and references for two scientific reports
– Data analysis assignments
• feel for equations, data presentation
– Minutes from group meetings, contributions to discussion
forums, module reflection, Peerwise
Assessment 3, Presentation
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Oral presentation – 20%
10-minute group presentation
Synthesis of members’ project work.
Rubric developed in class
Groups and teachers mark each presentation,
averaged for group score.
Assessment 4, Data Analysis test
• In-Class Test – 20%
• Based on Data Analysis Techniques sessions
– order of magnitude estimations
– taking limits
– dimensional analysis
– systematic and random errors
– graphical display methods.
Successes
• Better understanding of students needs,
strengths and weaknesses
• Inter-departmental collaboration – design and
delivery of module
• Lively, interactive class discussions
• Opportunity to give feedback on students’ writing
• Good outcomes for:
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referencing and plagiarism
note taking
revision advice
group presentations
Challenges and Solutions, 1
• Variable attendance/participation
– Late admittance to course
– 9am Thursday (Weds p.m. free)
• Affected group work
• Non-completion of portfolio tasks, so some
students missed incremental build-up towards
project
• Next time: less reliance on groups, stricter
deadlines for portfolio tasks
Challenges and Solutions, 2
• Overly ambitious goals – data analysis
• Presented too many ideas
• Students’ understanding weaker than
expected (e.g. derivative as rate of change)
• Poor test performance
• Next time: restrict to narrower range (limits,
units, scales), more examples and practice in
class
– tie-in with critique of journal article
Challenges and Solutions, 3
• Presentations – group members not all
engaged, some free-loading
• Related to project – if that was poor, adversely
affected presentations
• Next time: in pairs, shorter presentation,
explain a key engineering concept, and how it
can be applied in practice
– builds on prior exercise on explaining terminology
Challenges, 4
• Overly ambitious project
• Many had never read a journal article, much
less critically appraised one
• Too much choice for project
• Too long
• Underestimated problems with basic writing
skills
• A few great projects, a number of awful ones
Solutions, 4
• Smaller, more focused tasks, more tightly
related to needs in other modules
• Better balance between learner autonomy
and teacher control
• More time on finding, reading and critical
analysis of specific journal articles
• Final project: write up a technical report from
lab work – core skill, reinforces links with
other modules
Next iteration of module
• Portfolio – 40%; fewer tasks, heavier
weighting, tighter deadlines
• Critical analysis of journal article – 15%; less
choice, more focused guidance
• Technical lab report – 30%; more relevant, less
choice, lower weighting
• Oral presentation – 15%; more relevant,
smaller group, lower weighting
Lessons learned
• Module develops/improves with greater
understanding of students’ abilities and needs
• Fewer goals, clearly linked, more thoroughly
taught and practiced
• Better balance between teacher directive and
student choice
• Collaboration between discipline school and
central learning development unit
– shared module design and delivery can be effective
Kal Winston, Study Skills Centre, Bangor University
k.winston@bangor.ac.uk