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ENGR 102 Design Engineering and Problem Solving — Syllabus

Computational Foundations of Engineering

Course Overview

Credits: 3
Instructor Name: Eric L. Vogel
Instructor Email: eric.vogel@oregonstate.edu

Course Description: Explores the science of design and Design Thinking, including vetted ways of approaching and defining design problems, assessing stakeholder needs, ideation and concept generation, and prototyping and experimental design. Conducts work in teams of engineering designers to solve complex, real-world engineering problems. Learns methods to assess your problem-solving skills and to question your assumptions, reinforcing your core mathematics and science knowledge and employing computational thinking and programming. Develops advanced professional and communication skills in an engineering design team setting.

Specific Information for Ecampus Sections 40x: Explore foundational engineering concepts such as design principles, usability, problem solving, computational thinking, and logic. Gain knowledge of Computer Science (CS) & Software Engineering through overviews and Boolean algebra operations using truth tables, digital circuit diagrams, and introductory Python. Boost your teamwork, communication, and technical writing skills by developing and testing software and researching CS topics in a group, and start building skills to find a job.

Prerequisites: None (part of ENGR 100/102/103 sequence)

NON-CS ENGINEERING STUDENTS: A SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE INSTRUCTOR

As the course description indicates, these Ecampus sections of ENGR 102 cover two types of topics:

  1. General engineering principles that are relevant for all engineering majors
  2. Technical topics that are most relevant for future CS majors

If you are not a CS major, you may prefer a more general set of topics that are more directly applicable to your intended major; see the Engineering+ site for ENGR 102 on-campus sections with less of a computer science focus. If you have no alternative but to take this Ecampus course, and the computer science topics are outside your comfort zone, plan to spend extra time and effort to understand them. And you may need to reach out to the course teaching assistants or the instructor to help you find your personal Rosetta Stone that unlocks those topics for you.

That effort may seem necessary only to complete the course, but it will actually benefit you in unexpected ways once you start your career in your chosen field. Virtually every project in industry is carried out by an engineering team that includes software engineers. Even though these topics may not be directly applicable to your career goals, they will help you understand the issues that software engineers face, and the things they consider and contribute to the engineering design process and to solving complex engineering problems.

This syllabus and schedule are subject to change.

Late Enrollment

If you are enrolling late during Fall, Winter, or Spring term, you must complete all OSU approvals and appear as an registered student on the course Canvas site no later than noon Pacific time Friday of week 2 of the term (end of week 1 for Summer term). The instructor will not allow new students to join the course after that due to the amount of material to make up. You must contact the instructor by that deadline with your enrolled status visible in Canvas to receive extensions for assignments already past their deadlines. 

Expectations for Time and Participation

This course combines approximately 90 total hours of instruction, online activities, and assignments for 3 credits.

This course is asynchronous and somewhat flexible, but not self-paced. The schedule of course content and the due dates that appear in Canvas provide guidelines for how you’ll interact and with what frequency. I recommend that you create your own workload schedule and set reminders for assignment due dates.

Measurable Student Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate effective team practices while designing solutions to engineering problems. 
  2. Identify project deliverables and create a work plan for an engineering design project as a team including concept generation, evaluation, and brainstorming.  Be able to articulate limitations related to social or structural inequities such as: racial, cultural, gender, socioeconomic and accessibility.
  3. Define convergent and divergent thinking and demonstrate their role in a relevant team design project. 
  4. Use engineering judgement to identify errors and uncertainties in a solution and diagnose their causes. 
  5. Communicate technical concepts effectively through written, oral, digital or visual presentation. Develop an awareness and identify communication strategies for a wide range of audiences. 
  6. Identify and use relevant computational tools to solve an engineering problem. 
  7. Articulate goals for academic, personal, and professional achievement, including major selection, by generating a resume or digital portfolio.

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