Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Work-In-Progress: Implementing Sophomore Cornerstone Courses In Electrical And Computer Engineering, Branimir Pejcinovic, Melinda Holtzman, Phillip Wong

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many engineering programs have significant project-based courses in the freshman and senior years. The project component in our freshman year-long sequence evolves from minimally structured projects, like designing and building Rube-Goldberg contraptions, to more complex microcontroller-based projects where formal tools for teamwork and project management are introduced. However, we do not yet enforce strict adherence to procedures and processes in the freshman year. This is unlike the senior capstone, where the expectation is that students will not only be familiar with these methods but will use them effectively throughout their projects. This presents an obvious problem: what happens in the …