ECE Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes for September 24, 2009

1. The Minutes of the September 17, 2009 meeting were approved with corrections.
2. Scott Carney joined the meeting to discuss revisions to ECE 445 which he believes will make it eligible for credit as an Advanced Composition course. Doug Jones expressed his opinion that the documents describing the motivation for Advanced Composition in the campus General Studies requirements strongly promote in-discipline writing within the major department. Some discussion centered around whether the changes would place an increased burden on the teaching assistants or the number needed to staff the course; Prof. Carney expressed the opinion that the additional burden would largely make formal work they're already performing, that the additional load would be minimal (except perhaps on the instructor), and that the TAs were enthusiastic about it. Steve Bishop noted that the need to select TAs with high english language and writing skills along with technical expertise makes such assignments even more challenging, and adequate prior information may not always be available. Other discussion concerned whether the new format would be sustainable over time; Scott felt that it would be, and that should it prove otherwise it could always be changed again.

   Erhan Kudeki expressed both the sentiment that the additional writing experience represented by the proposed advanced composition changes is beneficial to our students regardless of other Advanced Composition courses, and a concern that students might reduce their writing experience by abandoning other Advanced Composition courses. He also suggested that there might be benefits to an alternate three-credit-hour version without advanced composition credit. Jones noted that the workload is already equivalent to at least four hours, and the Committee already approved ECE 445 for four hours of credit independent of the advanced composition change. Carney suggested that multiple modes might make the management of the course too difficult, particularly since it involves student teams.

   It was noted that this change provides Electrical Engineering majors, but not Computer Engineering majors, with Advanced Composition option as part of their required course sequence. Others noted that it merely introduces an additional option for Computer Engineers, who can take ECE 445 as a technical elective. It seems that we should discuss this issue further in our upcoming review of the Computer Engineering curriculum.

   Scott Carney noted that he is inviting staff from the Office of Technology Management (OTM) to give presentations on intellectual property issues, which increases the professionalism component in the class.

   The Curriculum Committee reasserted its decision from last year to approve the revised ECE 445 for four credit hours, with the difference subtracted from current technical elective hour requirements. The Committee voted without opposition to recommend that approval as an Advanced Composition course be sought.

3. The Committee adjourned at 1:53 PM.