Revised 1-13-10

Syllabus
OEES 221/OEET 221 Cooperative Work Experience
NMSU Grants Campus

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Links to frequently-used sections of this syllabus. (Click on them.)
General course content Textbook and materials Classroom conduct policy Phone numbers, etc. Office hours
Attendance policy Grading Projects

Master Syllabus (Information pertaining to the course regardless of which semester it is being taught, or which instructor teaches it.)
Course Description in the Catalog:  Supervised cooperative work program. Student is employed in an approved occupation and supervised and rated by the employer and instructor. Student will meet in a weekly class. Graded S/U.
Credit Hours: OEES 221: 1-6 credits; OEET 221: 1-4 credits
Weekly Contact Hours: OEES 221: 2-12 hours; OEET 221: 2-4 hours
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.

Note: Due to the scarcity of electronics/electrical employers in the Grants area, we are offering an alternative to making cooperative arrangements with an employer. If you select this alternative, you will be participating in an experience similar to what you would experience in an actual work place. You will be designing and building items to be offered to the public. (Community members receiving these items will reimburse the school’s electronics club for the cost of the parts, plus an optional donation.) The following syllabus material applies to this simulated workplace.

Learning Outcomes
While taking this course, you should be learning and demonstrating skills and work habits appropriate to working as an electronics technician or an electrician. Alternatively, you should be learning and demonstrating skills and work habits needed to build &/or install such things as solar power systems, wind power systems, etc. Your success at learning skills and work habits will be gauged by observation of the instructor.

Course Overview/Content and Scope
In your chosen area of emphasis, you will be learning skills and work habits in several different ways as follows:
  • Serving as an apprentice (in an informal sense of the word) to the instructor or to other students who have knowledge of particular skills and theory appropriate to your area of emphasis.
  • Receiving training similar to what you would encounter in the workplace.
  • Providing training similar to what you might need to provide in the workplace.
  • Finding information on the Internet and consolidating it into Web pages for others to use.
  • Improving your computer and Internet skills through repeated use.
  • Improving your typing skills unless you have already achieved a satisfactory level of speed and accuracy. Almost all jobs today (especially in the areas covered by this course) make use of computers and the Internet. Thus, skill at typing is essential. If your skill needs improving, you will be asked to spend a few minutes with the Mavis Beacon typing tutor software each class meeting.
Performance Assessment – Grading and Evaluation
The following methods will be used to measure your performance and determine your grade for the course:
  • Attendance is a large part of your grade.
  • Throughout the semester, several all-class projects will be assigned. You will get points for successfully completed projects. One of the instructors will sign off on each project you finish.
Textbook and Materials
  • No book is required.
  • A flash memory drive (also called "memory stick" or "jump drive") for storing files related to Internet research and seminar presentations.
Special Fees: None

Web sites
Classroom Conduct Policy
In this department, we like to run our classes in an informal manner. However, sometimes there are students who interfere with the learning of others. Thus, we have the following rules:
  • Electronic devices: Use of cell phones, mp3 players, etc., is prohibited during lecture time.
    • If you must be available for your children, etc., you may set your cell phone to vibrate-only mode during lecture time. If you have forgotten to set your phone to vibrate-only, and your phone rings during lecture time, please exit the room immediately and answer the phone once you are outside.
    • Tell those who might call you to avoid times you’re in class. (You’ll have an easier time learning if you’re not interrupted.)
  • Texting is only allowed during officially declared break times.
    • This is also true for other uses of your phone, PDA, etc.
  • Computer use: We’re supposed to be teaching good work habits, and we’ll expect you to conduct yourself as if you were at a workplace. The following are a few of the things you shouldn’t do during our classes or when at a job:
    • View pornographic or hate Web sites.
    • Play computer games, except during breaks.
    • Listen to music out loud. (The instructor will indicate whether or not it’s OK to listen with earphones.)
  • You’re expected to contribute to a positive learning environment. Conduct that is detrimental to this end can lead to your dismissal. Examples of such conduct are rudeness, disruptive behavior, poor hygiene &/or distractive clothing. In extreme cases, we may ask you to leave.
Academic Misconduct
Any student found guilty of academic misconduct shall be subject to disciplinary action. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to, the following actions: CHEATING; PLAGIARISM; UNAUTHORIZED POSSESSION OF EXAMINATIONS, RESERVE LIBRARY MATERIALS OR LABORATORY MATERIALS; UNAUTHORIZED CHANGING OF GRADES ON AN EXAMINATION, INSTRUCTOR’S GRADE BOOK OR GRADE REPORT; NONDISCLOSURE OR MISREPRESENTATION IN FILLING OUT APPLICATIONS OR OTHER COLLEGE RECORDS. The following disciplinary actions and sanctions may be imposed for any of the above infractions or regulations: disciplinary probation, disciplinary suspension, dismissal, expulsion.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
If you have, or think you may have, a disability that interferes with your performance as a student in this class, you are encouraged for academic reasons to discuss this on a confidential basis with your instructor, and/or The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator in the Main Office, or at 287-7981. If you have a condition which may affect your ability to exit from the premises in case of an emergency, you are urged, for safety reasons, to notify the ADA coordinator.

Last reviewed by Bruce McDowell on 1-13-10
 
Operational Syllabus (Information pertaining to the course as it is being taught this semester and by this instructor)
Spring 2010
Instructors: Bruce McDowell and Mark Eversole
Recommended Preparation
Having taken an electronics/electrical course in the past, or taking one simultaneously with this class will help you succeed.

Contact Information
Bruce: office 287-6636 office, home 285-4600 (9am to 7pm), cell 803-7833, email: bruce@mounttaylor.com
Mark: office 287-6658 office, e-mail: meversol@nmsu.edu

Office Hours
Bruce: Mon. Wed. 11 a.m. to noon; Tue. Thur. 2 to 3 p.m.; or by appointment. Mark: Mon. Wed. Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tue. Thur. 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., except when teaching a class.

Class Meetings
OEES 221--1 credit, OEET 221--1 credit: 1:00 to 3:30 p.m. Friday

Attendance Policy
You will be maintaining a timesheet that is initialled by one of the instructors at the end of each class period. If you have attended class at least 80% of the total hours and have done satisfactory work, you will get a grade of S (satisfactory). Otherwise, your grade will be U (unsatisfactory).

Grade for the Course  
You will be working on two types of projects in this class, as follows:
  • All-class projects.
    • You will earn points for each of these projects.
  • Individual projects.
    • Throughout the semester, the instructors will assign different projects to different people. For example, you might be doing construction on a portion of a solar power system, while another student might be working on the Web site we're creating.
    • You don't get points for these projects, but you do get attendance hours for the time you spend on them.
This course is graded S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory). To get a grade of S (satisfactory), you will need to achieve both of the following:
  • Attendance for at least 80% of the total hours.
  • A point total (from all-class projects) of at least 70% of the maximum.
Projects

There will be several projects to choose from throughout the semester. Alternative energy power systems (such as solar electric, solar heating, and wind turbines) are among the projects that are usually part of this class. If you are working toward an electronics certificate, you should choose projects involving electronics. If you are working toward an electrical trades certificate, as much as possible you should choose projects and activities similar to what an electrician would perform. (Of course, today's electricians often work with electronics as well as with traditional wiring work.)

Here are some of the projects we'll be doing (subject to change):

Solar power systems We'll be building and offering to the public three different sizes of systems. The largest is capable of powering a laptop computer and a satellite Internet dish for many hours each day. The medium-sized system is capable of powering a laptop &/or compact fluorescent lights for a few hours a day. The smallest system is mainly for evaluating a site to determine how much power could be expected from larger systems. This smallest system could also be used to charge cell phones.
Solar heat systems with electronic controls We'll experiment with solar hot-air and solar hot-water systems to determine if they are something we want to offer to the public.
Small electronic devices making use of our custom-designed microcontroller circuit board. Here are some examples:
  • Data collection system that records voltages, temperatures, etc., at specified intervals.
  • Microcontroller trainer and software for use in schools and by hobbyists.
  • Smart swamp-cooler controller that measures indoor and outdoor temperatures to decide if the cooler should be operated in cool mode or vent mode, and to decide whether to run the cooler on high or low.
  • Metronome for musicians. Capable of producing beats corresponding to the basic time signatures used in music.  
  • Electronic pitch pipe for singers, guitarists, etc.
  • Temperature controller for controlling such things as the blower on a solar hot-air system.
   
Create Web pages to document the various systems we design and build. Our goal is to make detailed plans so that anyone with Internet access can download them for free and build any of our systems. To this end, some of you may opt to work on creating these Web pages for some of the time this semester. This is work that you could do at home occasionally instead of coming in for some of the class periods.
Use Autocad to create drawings for systems we have designed. If you know how to use Autocad, we'll have you take on an "apprentice" who doesn't know Autocad. 
Work on a Build Your Own Solar Power System Wikibook The same outfit that created Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia) also has a collection of books (called Wikibooks) that are written by volunteers. (See en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page). By the way, "Wiki" is the Hawaiian word for "quick."

The Wikipedia people have a special subcategory of books that are class projects, where each student is responsible for a portion of the book. (See http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:List_of_class_projects.) The book that we'll be creating will be mostly drawings, photos, schematics, etc., with a minimum of text. Thus, you can breathe a sigh of relief--this won't be like an English paper!

Modifications to This Syllabus
This syllabus may be modified as necessary during the semester to meet the needs of the class. Major changes will be discussed and announced a minimum of one week in advance.

Reviewed by Bruce McDowell 1-13-10


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