A Holistic Approach to Electrical Engineering Based on the Flipped Classrom Approach

Abstract: This talk will focus on a significant curriculum innovation that is currently underway at the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. It focuses on beginning engineering students and impacts more than 1,000 students/year in many engineering areas. During the past five years, Prof. Peroulis has been re-developing the mandatory introductory course and laboratory experiments based on a new learning paradigm. Rather than following the traditional circuits-centric approach for introducing students to Electrical Engineering, this new paradigm offers a holistic view that empowers students to appreciate the wide application-range and tremendous societal impact of this engineering area by introducing them to all critical pillars of Electrical Engineering: a) Electromagnetic fields and waves, b) Circuits, and c) Solid-state physics and non-linear devices. This course is offered in a student-centric way by following the flipped classroom approach where part of the content is not explicitly taught in class but is made available to students in pre-recorded concept-nuggets. The class period focuses on active learning and encourages student participation in a variety of ways. This embraces diverse learning styles and abilities in a strong, inclusive, demanding, and rewarding learning environment.

Later this week anyone interested can set up 1:1 or small group conversations with Prof. Peroulis. Jon Sticklen from CEER will send an invitation to all EGR faculty on Thursday; CEER will handle the scheduling.