Minutes 9/20/2021
- Umberto Ravaioli
Analytics
Date
Sep 20, 2021
Attendees
A. Aggarwal, J. Allen, U.K. Bhowmik, S. Bogdanov, Z. Cheng, K. Driggs-Campbell, Y.-C. Hu, M. Hasegawa-Johnson, R. Iyer, N. Kani, J. Kim, V. Kindratenko, E. Kudeki, K. Levchenko, S. Mitra, T. Moon, U. Ravaioli.
Minutes
During the first half of the meeting there was an introductory discussion about the use of laboratory kits for personal use which have been augmented or introduced during the pandemic, due to the need for remote instruction. The possibility to extend the adoption of these kits and various alternatives to optimize cost and distribution of material were considered, including comments by various laboratory instructors who are members of the committee. One aspect that came across clearly from the conversation is the importance of continuing a strong in-person range of laboratory experiences, which have been the hallmark of Illinois engineering education, while at same time revisit the organizational philosophy of our laboratories through the lessons learned during the remote instruction forced by the pandemic. It was decided to extend the conversation to the following week, inviting additional instructors of laboratory courses (J. Schutt-Aine, C. Schmitz, J. Alvarez) and the ECE Instructional Lab Coordinator (C. Smith).
In the second half of the meeting, there was a discussion on the Robotics Initiative aiming to coordinate educational efforts in the College of Engineering. K. Driggs-Campbell gave an overview of the efforts and provided her perspective on the role of the ECE Department. She shared also a Dropbox link with another draft document on the initiative, which contains some of her additional thoughts and a useful flowchart of available robotics courses:
One major item of discussion was about the fact that all formal courses on robotics are at the 400-level while there is a need for an earlier introduction in the curriculum. It was pointed out that ECE 110, taught in the first year, has contained a robotic component. Student teams realize a major laboratory module building a small car model, based on analog, able to travel autonomously on a track. With the introduction of additional alternatives for the ECE 110 final project, however, the emphasis on robotics applications has been diluted over time. A 300-level course that could serve as an earlier introduction to robotics is one possibility to improve the course portfolio college-wide and the committee strongly encouraged the development of a draft proposal to be examined if at all possible this semester.