A freshman design and engineering tools course

Since 1991, the students enrolled in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Departments at San Jose State University have had an experimental course in engineering design and computer tools. In the Fall of 1994, the College of Engineering adopted the course as a required two-unit course (one unit lecture and three hours laboratory work per week) for all engineering students. The course is divided into three parts. The first covers the disassembly and reassembly of a computer peripheral, a report on the operation of the device and one improvement to add value. The second uses spreadsheets (either Lotus or Excel) to aid in the mathematical solution of an engineering problem. The third part uses Matlab to solve the mathematics of an engineering problem. The emphasis in the course is in defining the engineering solution for a particular engineering problem, using the computer packages to analyze the input variables, and then presenting the data so that "everyone" will come to the same conclusion. We use a data acquisition system with a computer system to generate data for the various student projects. All projects are conducted by teams of three students. All grades, except two for class exams, are team grades. The student projects are chosen from a list generated by the course faculty and other faculty in the College of Engineering.