Rebuild the Core Knowledge Structure for Higher Electronic Engineering Education

1. Rebuild the Core Knowledge Structure for Higher Electronic Engineering Education Xiqin Wang EE, Tsinghua Univ. 2012.10.22. (WIIE, Beijing) EE, Tsinghua University

2. Development of the Curricula in EE, TSHU • 1950s, exchange with former Soviet Union experts, under leadership of the founders of the department, setup the curricula. • Meng Zhaoying, Ph.D. 1936 from CIT • Chang Tong, MS 1943 from MIT, Ph.D. 1947 from Harvard • 1980s, exchange with American universities, courses and textbooks improved. • MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. • Late 1990s-now, research on new curriculum, broader and deeper fundamentals. EE, Tsinghua University

3. Academic Subjects of EE, TSHU • Communications and Information Systems • Telecommunication, Radar, Satellite positioning, Wireless sensor networks, etc. • Signal and Information Processing • Speech, Image, Video, Graphics, Remote-sensing, etc. • Electromagnetic Field and Microwave Technology • Devices, Antenna, EMC, etc. • Physical Electronics and Optoelectronics • Vacuum, thin film, LED, HEMT, semiconductor, laser, fiber, optical communication, optical signal processing, etc. • Information network and complex systems • Network, search engine, distributed information processing, etc. • Circuits and Systems • Low power ICs, SOC, SIP, etc. EE, Tsinghua University

4. Benjamin Franklin • Art is long and time is short. (Mid 1700s) EE, Tsinghua University

5. Balance the Curriculum • Research practice: ½ to 1 yr • Percentage of courses • Natural Sciences (& Math) ¼ • Liberal arts & Social Sciences (& Physical Training) ¼ • Major core & Electives (& Free Electives) ½ • Conflicts between and in categories… EE, Tsinghua University

6. What Is the Basic Conflict? • Go back into the history… End of 20th Century 1950's Cornell Univ. Learning theory Learning Sci Curricula Design Wilhelm von Humbolt Berlin Univ. 1868 Engineering Sciences Benthamics Major core/theory 1810 Engineering Practice the Enlightenment 1789 Social Service Renaissance Extra-curricula Act 17-18th Century Free Research Civilization 14-16th Century Increasing & Increasing ... Splitting & Splitting ... Research Natural Sci/Math 3500-2000 B.C. Teaching Utility Liberal EE, Tsinghua University Liberal Arts/Social Sci Liberal arts & Sciences

7. Increasing knowledge VS. Limited Time Findings • What to to? • Disciplines • Under/graduate/post • Extended Program • Limited Space • Wider/deeper major • Postn-doc? impossible • Hard to extend • What to teach？ • Liberal arts/Social sci. • Natural Sci/Math • Practical training • Extra-curriculum act. • Engineering Sci. • Developing Sci. Eng. • More to teach • Still Increasing EE, Tsinghua University

8. The Idea for Solution A Story—— Fish is Fish Three Theories 1. Pre-conception 2. Core-conception 3. Meta-cognition EE, Tsinghua University NAS，How Students Learn: History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom，2005. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10126.html .

9. Structure of a Subject • Bruner in “The Process of Education” • Understanding fundamentals makes a subject more comprehensible. • Unless detail is placed into a structured pattern, it is rapidly forgotten. • An understanding of fundamental principles and ideas appears to be the main road to adequate “transfer of training.” • By constantly reexamining material taught in elementary and secondary schools for its fundamental character, one is able to narrow the gap between “advanced" knowledge and “elementary” knowledge. EE, Tsinghua University

10. Paradigms • Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions • Achievements that share these two characteristics I shall henceforth refer to as 'paradigms,' • The achievement was sufficiently unprecedented to attract an enduring group of adherents away from competing modes of scientific activity. • Simultaneously, it was sufficiently open-ended to leave all sorts of problems for the redefined group of practitioners to resolve. EE, Tsinghua University

11. Rebuild Core-Conception of EE (2009) EE, Tsinghua University

12. Curriculum Design Media & Cognition Communication & Networks Data & Algorithms Digital Logic & CPU Computer Languages & Programming Electronic Circuits & Systems Electrodynamics Statistics & Stochastic Process Signals & Systems Solid Physics EE, Tsinghua University

13. References 1. J. R. STEPP, Prospectus for Information Ecology, Georgia Journal of Ecological Anthropology, Vol.3, pp38-54, 1999. 2. 北京高校党校协作组组编，《高等教育概论》，北京师范大学出版社，2003。 3. M. S. Donovan, J.D. Bransford, and J. W. Pellegrino, editors, How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, National Academy Press, 1999. 4. A.Y. Kolb, D.A. Kolb, Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: A Review of the Multidisciplinary Application of Experiential Learning Theory in Higher Education, in Learning styles and learning: A key to meeting the accountability demands in education, Nova Publishers, 2006. 5. J. S. Bruner, The Process of Education, 1960, Harvard Univ. Press 6. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962, University of Chicago. EE, Tsinghua University

14. Thanks！ EE, Tsinghua University