2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Preliminary assessment of “ECE Engineering Laboratory” course for a redesigned first-year engineering curriculum

Presented at First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 1: Course Design

Engineering programs nationwide have redesigned their first-year engineering curriculum to improve retention rate and to foster students’ success. Wentworth Institute of Technology has revised the first-year engineering curricula, for 8 engineering programs, in 2021. This paper presents the designing process of a first-year laboratory course in electrical and computer engineering that was offered for the first time in Fall 2022 as part of the redesigned first-year engineering curriculum. The course aims at providing engaging, active, and hands-on academic experience and at exposing first-year students to their chosen engineering discipline to enhance first year students’ performance and motivation to continue in an engineering degree. The effectiveness of the laboratory course has been assessed using data from course assessment and from students’ feedback through an exit survey. Preliminary results show a positive impact on students’ performance and students’ success. Insights from data analysis will be used as a metric for consideration for program continuous improvement.

Authors

Dr. Federica Aveta Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

Federica Aveta received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electronic Engineering from La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, in 2012 and 2016, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Oklahoma (OU), Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2020. Before joining Wentworth Institute of Technology, Federica worked as an Optical Engineer where she designed, built, and tested optical fiber lasers for medical applications. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Her research interests include Optical Communications and Signal Processing.
James R. McCusker Ph.D. Wentworth Institute of Technology [biography]

James R. McCusker is an Associate Professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Since joining Wentworth in 2010, he has been heavily involved with an array of interdisciplinary design courses that range from

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