Work in Progress: Redesigning the EE Service Course

The traditional EE service course has been redesigned to focus more precisely on the needs of the other engineering majors. Experiences at the University of Kansas described in this paper appear to be applicable as well to a large number of mid-size engineering programs. Previously, a single four-hour comprehensive EE service course had been taught for many years in both Fall and Spring semesters as either a required or elective course for students in aerospace, architectural, chemical, petroleum, civil, and mechanical engineering. Course objectives included preparing students for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination for professional licensing and providing background EE material for advanced courses in other engineering curricula. The redesigned format features multiple courses that would be offered only once during each academic year and tailored to the needs of specific engineering majors. Without additional faculty allocation, a three-hour course on circuits and machines would be offered in Fall semesters and a three-hour course on circuits, electronics and instrumentation (including a two-hour subset version) plus a separate one-hour laboratory in Spring semesters. The new format replaces the previous single EE service course beginning in Fall 2006