Retention Seminar Course

1
Retention - Seminar Course

• Freshmen/Sophomore Seminar course
• 2 credits
• Professional Issues
• Career Building
• Sub-areas of ECE / Curriculum Options
• What is Engineering / Design
• Ethics
• IEEE Code
• Case Study Discussion
• Practical Training
• Soldering / Kit Building / Debuggin
• Software Introduction - Cluster / Matlab / Spice

2
Results from Seminar Course

• Likelihood of majoring in ECE
• 1 - unlikely, 5 - very likely
• 77 very likely
• More or less likely to major in ECE after the
  course?

3
ECE Adventures Course Description

• ECE Adventures is intended for freshmen and
  sophomores unsure of their major or those who
  would like to learn about potential experiences
  of an Electrical and Computer Engineering
  student.
• Students learn about robots and experiment with
  sensors and actuators. This process will help
  them discover many basic ECE concepts.
• Fall 2006 (first semester) 23 students
• Spring 2007 45 students (max space available)

4
Student Exposure

• Student used the following equipment in lab
• Power Supply, Multimeter, Oscilloscope, Soldering
  Iron
• Students used the following components in lab
• Protoboards, Batteries, Resistors, LEDs, switches
• IR sensors, CdS cells (photo-resistors), sonar
  (ultrasound), LCD display panel
• Servos, motors
• We had demonstration using the following
  additional equipment
• LSA, Function Generator

5
Student Accomplishments

• Students constructed circuits
• Programmed microcontrollers
• Used electronic test equipment
• Learned a little about most of the ECE
  disciplines
• Worked in teams (including an end-of-semester
  competition) and gave a final presentation in
  class
• Team pictures below from final presentation

6
Results from ECE Adventures

• Likelihood of majoring in ECE
• 1 - unlikely, 5 - very likely
• 55 very likely
• More or less likely to major in ECE after the
  course?