Development and implementation of an integrated engineering curriculum for the sophomore year

Abstract

In 1995-96 the Foundation Coalition at Texas AM University-Kingsville (TAMUK) formed a second year team to develop and implement an integrated engineering curriculum for the sophomore year. The team has consisted of ten faculty members from all the engineering disciplines plus physics and mathematics. The team has operated on weekly (1-2 hour) workshop style sessions for both the planning and the implementation phases of this work. The team has followed a code of cooperation and continues to practice the principles of teaming. The team used the Affinity Process to group sophomore topics and the Modified Nominal Group Technique to prioritize the topics in an effort to develop a curriculum. The resulting sophomore curriculum consisted of four courses (13 semester hrs) in the first semester and three courses (9 semester hrs) in the second semester. It builds upon the integrated engineering curriculum which has been developed for the freshman year by the Foundation Coalition at TAMUK. First offered in the fall of 1996, the courses for the first semester sophomore year were: Integrated Engineering Systems 1 (3 hrs+1 hr design lab), Integrated Mechanics I (3 hrs), Integrated Physics II, (4 hrs), and Integrated Mathematics III, (3 hrs). The second semester courses were: Integrated Engineering Systems II, (3 hrs+I hr design lab), Integrated Mechanics II, (3 hrs), and Integrated Mathematics IV, (3 hrs). Results of the 1996-97 implementation of the courses are described, as well as the design and use of a specialized modern technology enabled classroom for cooperative/active learning.