ENG 100 gives new students a taste of their major

Mini-projects designed to introduce incoming engineering students at Illinois to their respective majors has received positive feedback this semester from ECE students in ENG 100: Engineering Orientation.

ENG 100 is an eight-week orientation course that focuses heavily on helping incoming students transition into college and their engineering studies. All first-time freshmen in engineering are required to take the course. Students meet twice a week for one hour with other students in their major and are led by a designated Engineering Learning Assistant (ELA) throughout the eight week period. Resume building, career fairs, and networking are just some of the many topics discussed in ENG 100.

The projects for ECE students are funded by the Ralph E. and Winifred T. Kuehn Endowment Fund and are a part of the new ENG 100 curriculum this year. The goal of ENG 100 is to engage incoming engineering students in their majors earlier on in the curriculum and to give them the opportunity to learn more about the kind of work they will encounter as they continue their education at Illinois. 

For the fall semester, ECE students are working on a MintyBoost kit that will introduce them to soldering and other basic skills useful for ECE majors. MintyBoost is a small battery-powered USB charger that can be used to charge iPods, MP3 players, cell phones, or any other USB devices. Students follow a guide to assemble the components of the kits. The kits are then placed into an Altoids tin with two AA batteries. The final product is a portable USB charger.

“I like the fact that we're partaking in a project that has a practical, real-life use for many of the students,” said Adam Grainawi, an ECE student in ENG 100. “Instead of learning about circuits and soldering skills in some abstract way, we have a hands-on learning experience that I plan on actually using once finished.”  

This reaction from Grainawi is exactly what Assistant Dean Susan Larson from the College of Engineering was hoping to get from students.

“By incorporating these projects, students can quickly gain an appreciation for their major and an enthusiasm for how their engineering discipline contributes to society,” said Larson. 

Mark Persaud and Haseeb Moten are head ELAs for ENG 100 this year, and they have worked hard to revamp ENG 100 for the fall semester.  With 1,500 freshmen enrolled in engineering and 12 different engineering departments on campus, Persaud and Moten wanted to find a way to help strengthen the freshman engineering program at Illinois by integrating the projects into the curriculum.

“When we decided to do this, we really took into consideration how we felt when we were freshmen. We thought about what we wanted to do back then,” said Moten. “We’re trying to make it into a course that will actually be beneficial to them.”

Like the MintyBoost kits, a unique project was chosen for each engineering major that incorporates skills and equipment the students will eventually use as they continue their degrees. 

“A lot of freshmen have no idea what their major does as they come into the program. Many of them don’t even have the opportunity to take classes offered in their major until their junior year. We wanted to give them an introduction to their major as soon as possible,” said Persaud. “These projects not only show them what to expect for the future, but it really helps them figure out if this is the right engineering major or career for them.”

“We’re doing more than just relaying information,” said Larson.  “We’re giving students experience. We’re giving students opportunities to be engineers. For ECE students, the MintyBoost projects will help the students as they encounter bigger responsibilities and bigger opportunities, such as the project they will do in ECE 110.”