A Pedagogical Approach to Teaching a First Course in Engineering Electromagnetics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol2.iss3.153Abstract
This paper presents a pedagogical approach to the development and teaching of a course in engineering electromagnetics to undergraduate students in electrical and computer engineering at Saint Louis University. It also discusses myriad problems and challenges in offering this course to accommodate the changing discipline boundaries. Engineering electromagnetics, by nature, is not a very popular course to many students because they incorrectly think it is full of complicated mathematics with little or no applications in the real world posing an intellectual and educational challenge to them. It makes this course appear insurmountable, abstract and abstruse. With the evolution of state-of-the-art technologies in electrical and computer engineering, the understanding the fundamental concepts in electromagnetics has become increasingly important. This approach provides tools of accurate analysis through computer methods, in addition to closed-form methods used for design analysis and synthesis. Difficult three-dimensional vector differential and integral concepts are discussed when they are encountered with emphasis being on physical insight. The course is modernized by briefly introducing the finite-difference method, and thereafter, integrating some prewritten computer programs to demonstrate graphical representation of some problems of practical interests. As a result, the students really begin to find a measure of joy in this course and emerge as engineers equipped with the best of the closed-form and computer worlds.
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References
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Copyright (c) 2014 Habib Rahman
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