A practical approach to introductory level design in electrical engineering

This paper discusses the concept of "engineering design" both in general and as it specifically applies to electrical engineering. A basic definition is developed as a basis for discussing how to incorporate engineering design into the entire engineering curriculum. How to incorporate these design concepts into introductory level courses where students tend to have very little knowledge with which to perform engineering design is then be addressed. The paper concludes with a presentation of several examples of design problems used in introductory networks and electronics courses. Problems, while very open ended, are structured to allow the students to maximize the use of their existing knowledge base in developing a solution. The use of these introductory level problems as potential building blocks for future, higher level design problems is also presented.