INTEGRATED APPROACH OF COMPUTING AND COMPUTER APPLICATIONS AT AN EARLY STAGE OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING PROGRAMS

Recently, the role of computing in solving engineering problems, design, data analysis, communication, accessing information, etc. increased dramatically. Hence, this has led to a great demand for computer applications skills in the curricula and practice of various engineering disciplines. As a result, courses in engineering programs have become more computer-oriented at all levels of the curriculum. This raises the following questions: 1) What undergraduate engineering students should know regarding computers and computing? And 2) How best should undergraduate engineering students acquire the computing skills, systematically and effectively, at an early stage of their academic program? At Washington University-Chemical Engineering Department, we have developed and taught an effective early-years (first or second year) computing course that provides in a systematic manner, the needed computer and computer applications skills for solving engineering and design problems. The course, “Introduction to Computing and Computer Applications ” is based on the premise that the engineering students should be provided with an integrated, strong and early introduction to computing techniques and packages. The materials are presented in a form that allows students to follow the logic involved and to understand the relationship between th