Redesigning the Introduction to Electrical & Computer Engineering for COVID-19

Traditionally, in most colleges and universities, students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department must take an Introduction to ECE course during their first year. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, most colleges and universities switched from face-to-face courses to online learning, so faculty, administrators, and staff could work remotely and safely. At the height of the pandemic, online learning became a necessity for many institutions. Recognizing the need for online, real-world, hands-on experience for first year students, the ECE department at Utah Valley University created a student-centered and project-based course to introduce students to the fundamentals of ECE and familiarize them with basic tools and concepts such as MATLAB, circuit design, and micro-processing. This new course is organized around three important concepts: 1) creating enjoyable and interesting projects for students, 2) connecting with real-world projects, 3) and acquiring online hands-on experience for the COVID-19 era. In this paper, we focus on the importance of offering an engaging ECE course and report on the successes of our Utah Valley University course, while considering the challenges for online education and the need to adapt to a post-COVID-era curriculum. Index Terms-introductory course; electrical and computer engineering, COVID-19, project-based, hands-on