First-year teaching developments in fundamentals of electrical engineering

Abstract

Modernisation of engineering education including courses in fundamentals of electrical engineering has been happening continuously in response to the advancement of knowledge. Other factors for change include a need of aligning the courses with industry practices, and not least - the economic factors due to funding restrictions and diminishing enrolment demand. Once more esoteric, but now existing factors are also the perceived attractiveness of engineering degrees and how demanding they are for the students during their studies. In this article, is presented a review of the developments in fundamentals of electrical engineering at the University of South Australia (UniSA), Adelaide, Australia, during the three decades between 1993 and 2022. The illustrated evolution of content, delivery, assessment and organisational circumstances although limited to one institution in this review, is likely to be visible and applicable to other areas of university engineering education elsewhere now and in the future