The grading basis for the engineering communication courses ENSC 102-1, 204-1, 304-1, 305-1 and 406-2 is proposed to be changed from P/F to standard A-F grading. Note: no change in calendar text is required.
It is no longer possible to individually monitor students to ensure that students have achieved the mastery requisite to achieve a P in a course. In the past, instructors had sufficient contact with students to ensure that even if a student's performance was marginal in early course work, additional work could be done later to rectify the deficiencies. Assigning A-F grades ensures that the instructor can effectively monitor student progress throughout the courses.
Students may be lulled into a false sense of security about their communication skills by receiving a P in early course work. Assigning A-F grades enables students to more accurately assess their performance.
Difficult to motivate students to perform to adequate standards. Assigning a grade ensures that most students perform at a reasonable level because A-F grades have an impact upon their GPAs while P grades do not.
ENSC has a responsibility to ensure that potential employers and graduate admissions offices can distinguish between students with excellent versus mediocre achievement in the courses. Assigning A-F grades enables those distinctions to be made.
| Current | Proposed |
|---|---|
Industrial ExperienceEvery student completes a co-op education program of at least three work semesters (not including ENSC 194) and a thesis or capstone project. After the first year, students typically alternate between academic and work semesters, resulting in a combination of work in an industrial or research setting with study in one of the four engineering options. Students may also participate in additional work semesters for further valuable experience and the chance to investigate career choices. The engineering science co-op program is administered through the School of Engineering Science by the school's co-op co-ordinators whose responsibility it is to find and maintain appropriate work placements. Toward the end of academic studies and under the direction of a practising engineer or scientist, honors students work on a major project in an industry or research setting. This forms the basis for the honors thesis. A thesis proposal is typically submitted in the ninth semester and all thesis requirements are completed by the end of the tenth semester. |
Industrial ExperienceEvery student must complete a co-operative education program of at least three work semesters. After the first year, students typically alternate between academic and work semesters. The goal is a complementary combination of work in an industrial or research setting and study in one of the engineering options. At least two of the three mandatory work semesters must be completed in industry (ENSC 195-0, 295-0, 395-0). Students may participate in additional work semesters but are encouraged to seek diversity in their experience. The three mandatory work semesters may include one special co-op semester (ENSC 196-0, 296-0, 396-0). Special co-op may include, but is not restricted to, self-directed, entrepreneurial, service, or research co-op work terms. Permission of the engineering science co-op office is required. An optional nontechnical work semester (ENSC 194-0) is also available through the engineering science co-operative education office and is often taken after the first two semesters of study. ENSC 194-0 does not count toward the mandatory three-course requirement. The engineering science co-operative education program will also seek opportunities for students wishing to complete their thesis requirements in an industrial setting. |
During the economic boom a number of excellent first year students obtained technical placements with good companies, and they registered for ENSC 194 but could not use it for one of their mandatory placements despite the fact that it was technical and "educational".
Because the last of the three mandatory co-ops is completed at a senior level, the proposed change will allow the student to count the optional co-op toward graduation requirements instead of forcing the student to complete a fourth co-op work term which would be difficult to find, could delay graduation, and may result in a co-op assignment being denied to another student.
| Course | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| ENSC 194 | This is an optional semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to first year engineering science students. This course will not be counted towards the three required co-operative education semesters; however, it will be recorded on the students' transcipts. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. |
Four month internship of a non-technical nature. May be taken at any point during program but will not count toward one of the three mandatory co-op work terms. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prerequisite: none. |
| ENSC 195 | This is the first semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is given as pass/withdraw/fail (P/W/F) only, based on the employer's and co-operative education co-ordinator's evaluation of the student's work during the semester and on the evaluation of the work report submitted and the oral presentation at the end of the work session. |
First four month internship in industry. Credit is given as pass/withdraw/fail (P/W/F) only, based on the employer’s and co-operative education coordinator’s evaluations. Prerequisite: none. |
| ENSC 196 | This is the second semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. ENSC 196 may or may not involve the same employer as ENSC 195. Prerequisite: ENSC 195. |
Four month internship in industry or university research environment. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prior approval of Internship Coordinator required. Prerequisite: none. |
| ENSC 295 | This is the third semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. ENSC 295 may or may not involve the same employers as preceding practicum semesters. Prerequisite: ENSC 196. |
Second four month internship in industry. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prerequisites: ENSC 195 or ENSC 196. |
| ENSC 296 | This is the fourth semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. ENSC 296 may or may not involve the same employers as preceding practicum semesters. Prerequisite: ENSC 295. |
Four month internship in industry or university research environment. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prerequisite: ENSC 195 or ENSC 196 and approval of Internship Coordinator required. |
| ENSC 395 | This is the fifth semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. ENSC 395 may or may not involve the same employers as preceding practicum semesters. Ideally, students should enrol in ENSC 498 instead of ENSC 395. Prerequisite: ENSC 296 and permission of the undergraduate curriculum chair. |
Third four month internship in industry. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prerequisites: ENSC 295 and a minimum of 75 credit hours of study. |
| ENSC 396 | This is the sixth semester of work experience in the Co-operative Education Program available to engineering students. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. ENSC 396 may or may not involve the same employers as preceding practicum semester. Students should strongly consider enrolling in ENSC 498 instead of 396 at this time. Prerequisite: ENSC 395 and permission of the undergraduate curriculum chair. |
Four month internship in industry or university research environment. Approved entrepreneurial projects will also be accepted. Credit is awarded as in ENSC 195. Prerequisite: ENSC 295 or ENSC 296, a minimum of 75 credit hours of study and approval of Internship Coordinator required. |
The changes reflect the restructuring of Engineering co-op program. The normal industrial co-op semesters that must comprise at least two of the three mandatory co-op semesters are labelled ENSC 195-0, 295-0 and 395-0. The special co-op semesters that can be used for at most one of the three mandatory co-op semesters are labelled ENSC 196-0, 296-0 and 396-0.
| Current | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Social Responsibility and Professional Practice |
Engineering Ethics, Law, and Professional Practice |
| Description | This course explores the social implications and/or environmental impacts of a technology relevant to the participants' field of study through research. This course also uses lectures, case studies and group discussions to increase awareness and understanding of the legal ethical responsibilities of professional engineers, including issues of worker and public safety. (2-0-0) |
This course provides an introduction to the engineering profession, professional practice, engineering law and ethics, including issues of worker and public safety. It also offers opportunities to explore the social implications and environmental impacts of technologies, including sustainability, and to consider engineers' responsibility to society. (2-1-0) |
| Current | Proposed |
|---|---|
Aspects of design using digital and analog integrated circuits as circuit blocks for the realization of required system functions are treated, with project activities in the laboratory. Topics include differential amplifiers; operational amplifiers - non-ideal aspects; slew rate, gain error, sensitivities. Active filter design. D/A and A/D conversion. MSI and LSI digital circuits, combinational and sequential: decoders, encoders, multiplexers, ROM's, counters, controllers. Communication circuits: AM and FM modulators and demodulators, multiplexers, pulse modulation. Laboratory work is included in this course. (2-0-4) Prerequisite: ENSC 222. |
The principles and processes involved in designing analog circuits, emphasizing the functional blocks that comprise subsystems of a larger analog signal processing system. Topics include linear and nonlinear amplifiers, active filters, signal generators, signal modulators, switchmode power converters and analog/digital data conversion. The effects of non-ideal aspects of IC operational amplifiers on system performance are discussed and verified using laboratory projects. Students should be familiar with the behaviour and application of discrete semiconductor devices. (3-0-3) Prerequisites: ENSC 325 and ENSC 380. |
The current calendar entry refers to a prerequisite ENSC 222 which does not exist.
The current calendar entry suggests that a significant portion of the course discusses medium and large scale integrated digital circuits. This has not been covered in the past and is covered in detail in other courses.
ENSC 325 was always intended to be a prerequisite but was not a mandatory course for all options and thus was omitted. This argument no longer holds as ENSC 325 is required in all options.
In order that the course be taught as a reasonable 400 level course students should first develop a certain level of maturity. It is unreasonable to expect a student to grasp aspects of design when their knowledge base and analytic skills are at the 200 level.
The following changes to the Engineering Science common core reflect the introduction of the new Computing Science course sequence CMPT 128-3/225-3 in place of 101-4/201-4.
| Current | Proposed |
|---|---|
Semester Two (Spring)CMPT 101-4 Introduction to Computer Programming* 18 credit hours
|
Semester Two (Spring)CMPT 128-3 Introduction to Computing Science and Programming for Engineers* 17 credit hours
|
Semester Four (Summer)
CMPT 201-4 Data and Program Abstraction* (C,S) 18 credit hours (C,S); 17 credit hours (P,E)
|
Semester Four (Summer)
CMPT 225-3 Data Structures and Programming* (C,S) 17 credit hours
|
In addition to the course changes, the total credit hours under each of the options also changes.
| Option | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics Engineering Option | Total 142 credit hours (G); 154 credit hours (H) |
Total 141 credit hours (G); 153 credit hours (H) |
| Computer Engineering Option | Total 140 credits (G); 152 credits (H) |
Total 138 credits (G); 150 credits (H) |
| Engineering Physics (Electronics) Option | Total 156 credits |
Total 155 credits |
| Systems Option | Total 141 credits (G); 153 credits (H) |
Total 139 credits (G); 151 credits (H) |
These changes have been developed in response to the revised course sequence for computing science majors, which replaces CMPT 101-4 and CMPT 201-4 by CMPT 120-3, CMPT 125-3 and CMPT 225-3. Using the new computing science course sequence verbatim would add another credit hour and other course to an already highly constrained curriculum. Instead, computing science has created CMPT 128-3 as a combined version of CMPT 120 and 125, specifically tailored to the needs of Engineers. This is made possible by the use of CMPT/ENSC 150-3 as a prerequisite to CMPT 128-3.
The following courses should be deleted.
The courses ENSC 306, 407, and 408 have not been taught for several years and there is no plan to offer them in the future.