Session 1526 Integration of Computer-Based Electronics Laboratory into a Control Systems Course

The goal of this project is to adapt the work of other researchers to improve the delivery of electronics lecture and laboratory content in the Electronics & Computer Technology (ECT) area of the BS in Industrial Technology at San Jose State University. There are several other demographic factors that serve to make the delivery of instruction challenging for the department. Approximately 70 % of ECT students work at least 30 hours a week. SJSU also has a diverse student population with 62 % of all undergraduates identified as having non-White ethnicity. A higher percentage (69%) of the undergraduate students in the BSIT are non-White and there are significantly more students from Asian backgrounds in the BSIT than in the university as a whole. From the research on ethnic and gender differences in learning styles, the evidence suggests that ethnic minorities and women work best when the material is organized so that students work in teams and have a high level of hands-on experimentation and problem-solving. To fund this curricular development, we received a NSF CCLI grant. The four objectives for this project are (1) Revise the lecture and laboratory content for Tech 167— Control Systems in line with theories of effectiveness in web-based instruction (Fisher &amp