2022 First-Year Engineering Experience

Full Paper: First-Year Computing Course with Multiple Computing Environments - Integrating Excel, Python and MATLAB

Presented at Technical Session M5A

This full paper will describe the use of multiple computing environments (Excel, Python and MATLAB) integrated in a first-year computing course. Computing is an important outcome of many First-Year Engineering (FYE) programs because it prepares students for the analytical and problem solving skills required for most engineering program. Computing is growing in importance across all the engineering fields.

Close to half a century ago, scientists, engineers, and mathematicians learned programming in a specific language used broadly within their field. Additionally, programming has often been taught using syntax and through a single language. This can lead to students being embroiled in the specifics of the programming language and not understanding the true potential of programming as a scientific and logical problem-solving tool. Given the fast pace of development in technology, and new computing language and environments being introduced at an increasing pace, faculty teaching FYE programming courses face challenge in choosing a language or environment.

The approach used across a set of courses described in this paper is from a large midwestern public university in the United States. Students participate in a foundational year that is common across all majors but has options within the first-year. This paper will describe in detail two of the four options that are open to all engineering majors and share a common approach to introducing computing. The approach is to introduce students to computing concepts by applying these concepts in Excel, Python and MATLAB within a single semester. This paper will provide two years of assessment data showing students’ performance and perception of the courses. The discussions present the affordances of this approach and methods for accommodating the large variance in students computing backgrounds. In addition, the discussion describes the confounds of the pandemic with virtual teaching and potential methods to address these confounds. This paper will interest instructors, and researchers, who teach computing to undergraduate engineering students and the methods used to achieve multiple computing related learning objectives in a short period of time.

Keywords: first-year engineering, computing course, multiple programming languages

Authors

Dr. Sean P Brophy Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Dr. Sean Brophy is the Co-Leader of the Educational, Outreach and Training them for the George E. Brown Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). His research in engineering education and learning sciences explores how children learn through
Dr. John H Cole http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0776-0243 Purdue University [biography]

John H. Cole (S’10–M’12) received the B.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, in 2005 and 2011, respectively. In 2013, he served as an Adjunct Professor with the American University of Kuwait and the Gulf University of Science and Technology. He is currently a lecturer at with Purdue University. His research has been concerned with power and energy systems, electromechanical energy conversion devices, modeling and simulation and engineering education.
Mr. Srinivas Mohan Dustker http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-3840-7450 Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Srinivas Dustker is a Ph.D. student and a Ross Fellow in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He received his Master of Science in Industrial and Operations Engineering from University of Michigan, US and Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering and Management from B.M.S. College of Engineering, India. His research interests include service-learning, community engagement, faculty development, student motivation, education policy, and technology integration in engineering education. He is currently working on reflection at scale in a community-engaged design program and assessment of student learning and faculty development in first-year engineering programs.
Dr. William "Bill" C. Oakes http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6183-045X Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

William (Bill) Oakes is the Assistant Dean for Experiential Learning, a 150th Anniversary Professor, Director of the EPICS Program, Professor of Engineering Education at Purdue University, and a registered professional engineer. He is one of the founding faculty in the School of Engineering Education having courtesy appointments in Mechanical, Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Curriculum and Instruction. He was the first engineer to receive the U.S. Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning and a co-recipient of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering’s Bernard Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. He is a fellow of NSPE and ASEE and elected to the ASEE Hall of Fame.
Dr. Carla B. Zoltowski Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE) [biography]

Carla B. Zoltowski is an assistant professor of engineering practice in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and (by courtesy) School of Engineering Education, and Director of the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program within the College of Engineering at Purdue. Prior to her appointment in ECE, Dr. Zoltowski was Co-Director of the EPICS Program. She holds a B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. in Engineering Education, all from Purdue. Her research interests include the professional formation of engineers, diversity, inclusion, and equity in engineering, human-centered design, engineering ethics, and leadership.

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