E-Clock: A wiki-based outreach and recruitment tool uri icon

abstract

  • The Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) program has established outreach and recruiting as one of its highest priorities. In addressing this need, the EET program has developed a number of engineering kits that are both challenging and motivational for high school students to learn more about the areas of electronics and telecommunications. The newest of these kits is EClock, a small microcontroller-based development system that allows students to accomplish: •Soldering of both through-hole and surface mount technology • Use of a wiki-based development resource • Units and measurement techniques for voltage and resistance • Software development, programming and testing in the C high level language • Design and development of expansion kits to add functionality and capability to the basic E-Clock E-Clock consists of a printed circuit board and approximately 75 through hole and surface mount parts that the student must assemble and test. The price of the kit is low enough that the EET program, through support grants from a major electronics manufacturer, is capable of providing kits for a large number of students who are considering engineering as their choice for a college education. Capturing the attention of these students early and making sure they have a good understanding of the EET program curriculum is expected to increase the application and transfer of top-level students into the program. The E-Clock kit/projects are versatile enough to be used for recruiting/retention/teaching in a variety of different programs in engineering and engineering technology alike. In addition to the initial building and programming of the basic E-Clock kit, the developers are hopeful that some of the high school students will contribute to the wiki by designing their own advanced kits and generating the new control software. Sharing their work with others via the wiki will allow the project to continue to expand. To support this, the developers plan to create a social communications link via Facebook to allow for increased information sharing and tracking of the high school students as they graduate and enter college. Initial results will be reported in the paper/presentation based on kits that have been sent to female students who participated in the Krisys Robot Women Explore Engineering (WEE) Workshop hosted by the College of Engineering during the summer of 2011. In addition, the developers are working with a local high school, using E-Clock for both lower- and upperdivision students to fully test and evaluate the E-Clock design and wiki-based support and development tools. This will also be presented. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.

author list (cited authors)

  • Morgan, J. A., Porter, J. R., Twigge, D. W., Block, J., & Byrd, M.