Minutes for the ECE Fall 2009 wrapup session.

December 12, 2009

Attending: Bill Taylor, Sherman Poultney, Pradeep
Goval, Jerry Sergent, John Jacocks, Ryan Munden,
Douglas Lyon (Sec Pro Tempore).

ECE448/EE 346 John Jackoks

Microcontrollers  course. Had some problem with class
attendence. Some students were "interesting".
The basic course should be taught in one term and the
lab should be taught in the following term.

These things should be done as a sequence.

First we should do the lecture then the lab.

Ryan: EE213 Introduction to Elec Ckts. Last year
was a very bimodal distribution in the grades.
This year we had a better distribution. I had
the students put problems on the board. The students now
put the problems on the board. There is also an on-line
quiz from Eidos. Averages run 80 to 90 %.

EE301, Sig. And Systems I. Last year we had 9 students
and 50% part-time students. This was a solid group.
The students are doing better and have done more material.

I was able to do a lab, with a simulation, theory and a build
so there was hardware.

EG210, Intro to Nano. Tech. Had 6 students. This is no a two
year cycle. Class presentations, reading books. A second
term in Nano technology will be offered next year..

I hope to have another course on nano technology next year.

This is part of a state-sponsered minor in nano technology.

Doug: I taught CR246 Digital Desn II...
This was a last minute change that caused me to learn
VHDL well enough to teach it (from knowing nothing at all).

We used the new Quartus II tools, along with a new book,
selected by another instructor. We had problems with the
book, as it was not very expository.

The cancellation of the lab should not be held against
the graduate students who are trying to complete a lab
requirement. The lab should be waived.

CR320, Computer Network programming, was well attended.
We had a lot of problems with uneven programming background
and troubles with

ECE410, Biomedical Signal Processing. We had a lot of
problems with students not having enough programming background.
Perhaps we should use CD211 as an Interactive Computer Aided
Design course, with programming. We could use it for our
majors in Programming-based majors (Computer Engineering and
Software Engineering). This was my first time teaching the course.


EE231 Analog Electronic Design Pradeep Govil.
EE231L.

Students alway complain about the book. This is the
same book I have always used (for the last 4 years).
I don't use a book that is a cook-book. This book makes
the student.

I have a feedback session and found that students have
suggested schaum's outline. However this is only
a good reference.

Bill commented that it's  a good idea to have your own problems
made up to counteract possible possession of solution manuals.
There is a web site that students can join that make solution manuals
available to students.  

Pradeep: My emphasis is teaching lectures and doing problems
in the class. This improves learning. I spend 1/3rd of the
class doing the homework problems. The feedback from
the students is very popular. I encourage students
to do the HW problems to clarify the concepts.

The coordination between the course and lab. These things
are not well coordinated.

Ryan: I generally don't use cookbook laboratories, so
that students can have an original educational 
experience. There is not much learning going on
in the hardware with a cookbook laboratory.
The capstone for that class was a "real" design project.
This was an open-ended task.

PG: In EE331, this might be more appropriate.

RM: We should tell people to program everything
in one language (MatLab?). PG: We should use
python. DL: We should use Java. SP: Mathcad is 
what I use, but I am just too cheap to buy something
better.

Apparently, everybody can agree to disagree.

PG: We should have some sort of a solar engergy track.

Meeting adjouned at 12:30