Undergraduate Curriculum Reform

1
Undergraduate Curriculum Reform

• Last major curriculum restructuring was before I
  was hired
• Study Group to Examine Curriculum over summer /
  fall
• Chair - Law
• Faculty - Arnold, Fox, Harris, Jordan, Lam,
  Nishida
• External - Khargonekar, Hawkins
• Students - Knauer, Sapp
• Reviewed issues with current curriculum and
  students
• Reviewed peer school curriculum
• Drafted a strawman proposal for feedback

2
Current Issues

• Incoming student population is different from 20
  years ago
• Top Florida kids, UF is selective
• No practical experience - no heathkit, soldering,
  tinkering
• Internet savvy - google answers, social network,
  wiki
• Tend to not read textbooks, dont think linearly
• UF Population Experience
• Retention is an issue, declining enrollment, poor
  attendance, motivation - students do not appear
  excited about the material
• Curriculum has been static - some changes but
  mostly minor
• Problems doing real senior design unless
  computers - theory first courses hurt senior
  design
• Graduation
• Job market has changed, more engineering support
  jobs, more jobs require advanced degrees
• More students headed to grad school - 30 in
  surveys

3
Peer School Study

• Links on web - http//www.ugstudy.ece.ufl.edu
• Looked at GaTech, Michigan, Purdue, Illinois,
  MIT, CMU, Duke, RPI, Olin
• Generally - more early curriculum courses
• Programs with recent change have added more
  freshmen / sophomore year courses
• Introductory courses with lab experience to help
  motivate students to learn rigor later
• Real courses, real content

4
Principles of redesign

• Lower Division courses
• Meaningful, important concepts covered and
  learned
• Lab and project based learning
• Math Level appropriate
• Focus less on required breadth and give more
  depth opportunity
• Provide more electives in and out of department
  for students to obtain career skills
• Spread out GenEd so the junior / senior years are
  less intense

5
Overview

• Soft skills and University general requirements
• Ethics, Gen Ed requirements, Science
• Statistics, Analysis
• ECE Foundation courses
• Computers, Electronics, Signals, EM
• ECE Science courses
• Computing, Electronics, Devices, EM, Signals,
  Applied Statistics
• ECE Integrated courses
• Courses that are electives covering 2 or more
  science areas
• RF electronics, VLSI Design, Optical Devices and
  Systems, Communications Electronics (as examples)
• ECE Depth courses
• Required to take electives in one area
• ECE Electives

6
Major Changes / Features

• First Semester Freshmen start with EE
• Dropped Calc III, Physics II
• Merge Calc III into EM
• Physics II curricula in EM, Electronics
• Added Modern Physics
• Teach our own Statistics
• Gen Ed in all semesters

7
A Proposed Curriculum
8
Comparison by credit

• Math and Science
• Proposal (28) - Calc I (4), Calc II (4), Diff Eq
  (3), Chem (4), Phys I (4), Bio (3), Modern Phys
  (3), ECE Analysis (3)
• Current (33) - Calc I (4), Calc II (4), Calc III
  (4), Diff Eq (3), Chem (4), Phys I (4), Phys II
  (4), Bio (3), ECE Analysis (3)
• General Education
• Proposal (23) - Gen Ed (18), Tech Writing (3),
  Seminar (2)
• Current (23) - Gen Ed (15), Tech Writing (3),
  Free Elective (3), Seminar (2)
• College Breadth
• Proposal (6)
• Current (9)
• Required ECE Core
• Proposal (45) - Circuits and Electronics (8),
  Devices (3), Computing (10), EM (7), Signals
  (8), Applied Stats (3), Design (6)
• Current (36) - Circuits and Electronics (8),
  Devices (3), Computing (6), EM (3), Signals (7),
  Statistics (3), Design (6)
• Technical Electives
• Proposal (27) - Integrated (6), Tier 3 Depth (6),
  Other (15)
• Current (29) - Technical Specialization (11-12),
  Other (17-18)