Minutes 12/6/2021

Date

Dec 6, 2021

Attendees

A. Aggarwal, J. Allen, U.K. Bhowmik, S. Bogdanov, K. Driggs-Campbell, M. Hasegawa-Johnson, B. Hajek, R. Iyer, J. Kim, E. Kudeki, T. Moon, U. Ravaioli, P. Song, 

Minutes

The Department Head, Bruce Hajek, joined the meeting which was entirely dedicated to the changes in general education requirements, with the removal of Liberal Education courses by the College of Engineering.  In particular, Bruce discussed the idea of instituting an additional writing requirement, possibly one of the courses on the campus approved Advance Composition list.  One motivation for this proposal is the feedback from alumni and colleagues in industry who indicated the importance of writing skills in many professional circumstances.  There is indeed a nationwide conversation on the decline of writing skills in college graduates and engineering students at Illinois are not immune.  Bruce indicated Business Technical Writing courses as examples of suitable candidates for a new requirement.  Another vehicle for improving writing competency could be to include more writing assignments and reports in regular engineering courses.  Various committee member commented on their impressions and experiences.  For instance, Simeon Bogdanov mentioned how he has introduced regular writing assignments in his teaching.  In general, there was agreement that many student are weak in writing skills and that this aspect of education deserves attention.  While we have many students who do excel in writing, not all high schools provide the same level of education on this subject. There was some discussion on pros and cons of implementing a strict requirement for an additional advanced composition course.  The present requirement is fulfilled by ECE 445 for Electrical Engineering students and a number Computer Engineering students who opt for this course as their capstone.  Computer Engineering students fulfilling the capstone requirement with ECE 411, instead, typically take a more traditional advanced composition course from the campus list.  Another issue is that the hours released with the elimination of the Liberal Education requirements were meant to increase the pool of free electives for more flexibility, rather than to institute a new requirement.  On the other hand, ECE curricula have already twelve hours of free electives, which is more than with other engineering curricula. There was agreement that the topic is important and that it requires more discussion.  For the time being, the committee decided by unanimous consent that one hour of the five, made available by the College changes, should be added to the credit requirements for technical electives, since one hour had to be removed recently to accommodate other curriculum adjustments.  The other four hours will be added for now to the number of free electives in both ECE curricula while measures for improving writing competency, including the possible requirement for an additional advanced composition course, will continue to be discussed and considered.