1. Innovative Approaches to Electrical Engineering Education - A paper presentation for ASEE GSW Conference 2006 by - Murali R. Varanasi, Oscar N. Garcia and Parthasarathy Guturu - Electrical Engineering Department, - University of North Texas, Denton

2. Agenda Introduction to EE Program at UNT Program Objectives Innovative Approaches Being Adopted Sample Results from the Initial Phase Summary and Conclusion

3. EE Program at UNT- An Introduction Started with the approval from THECB Prior to that, the NSF proposal for an Innovative EE Program got nearly $1 M funding BSEE started in Spring 2005 MSEE to start in 2007 Top 2 nuggets recognition by NSF after the first year report Full support from local industry

4. Program Objectives Design and Project Oriented Education Fostering L2L and Lifelong Learning Skills Integration of Ethics Education With primary emphasis on the above three, going beyond the minimal requirement to satisfy the ABET outcomes 3 (a) through to 3 (k).

5. Innovative Approaches Being Adopted Development of Design Skills- Departure from Capstone Projects Concept Team Teaching by faculty and Industrial Adjuncts Freshman Project Courses on L2L and Ethics All-round Development Education on Responsibilities and Self- awareness

6. Sample Results From Initial Phase Positive Feedback Learning my own learning style was interesting Like class participation with thinking exercises Distinction between ethics and professionalism is clearly made out. Current ethical issues are well discussed Constructive Criticism More of hand-on L2L projects would be helpful Too many problem solving exercises to complete Discussion on EE historical context could be replaced by more ethics case studies Firsthand experience on issues in industry may help

7. Summary and Conclusion Innovative Approaches to EE education are presented Project and Design-Oriented Education, L2L and Ethics are the cornerstones of the program Being a novel program, enough numerical data for quantitative assessment not yet available. Subjective feedback from the students in the L2L and Ethics classes is quite encouraging.