Format and Conventions

B.1 Format and Conventions

All sample curricula in this appendix use a common format with five logical components. These are:

1. A set of educational objectives for the program of study and an explanation of any assumed institutional, college, department, or resource constraints

2. A summary of degree requirements, in tabular form, to indicate the curricular content in its entirety

3. A sample schedule that a typical student might follow

4. A map showing coverage of the Computer Engineering Body of Knowledge by courses in the curriculum

5. A set of course descriptions for those courses in the computing component of the curriculum

B.1.1 Course Hour Conventions

To clarify the identification of courses, levels, and implementations, course numbers reflect ways that identify the curriculum in which it appears and the level at which it appears in the program. Thus, a course numbered MTH X 100 is a course in curriculum X commonly taught in the first year (at the freshman level). Likewise, PHY X 200 is a course commonly taught in the second year (at the sophomore level); ECE X 300 is a course commonly taught in the third year (at the junior level); and course ECE X 400 is commonly taught in the fourth year (at the senior level).

To provide ease of comparison, all curricula implementations appear as a set of courses designed for a U.S. system in which a semester provides 14 weeks of lecture and laboratory. Typically, there is the equivalent of one week for examinations, vacations, and reading periods. For simplicity, we specify lecture and lab times in “hours”, where one “hour” of lecture or lab is typically 50 minutes in duration.

We assign each course a number of semester credit hours, according to the number and types of formal activities within a given week. These are determined as follows.

• Lecture hours: presentation of material in a classroom setting o

1 credit hour = One, 1-hour lecture per week

• Laboratory hours: formal experimentation in a laboratory setting o

1 credit hour = One, 3-hour laboratory session per week

The following are examples of ways to calculate credits for lectures and laboratories where the word hour is a 50- minute time segment.

• 3-credit lecture course:

3 lecture hours per week for 14 weeks = 42 lecture hours (plus one week for examinations) • 1-credit laboratory course: One 3-hour laboratory session per week for 14 weeks = 42 lab hours • 3-credit course with two lectures and a lab session each week:

2 lecture hours per week for 14 weeks = 28 lecture hours (plus one week for examinations) One 3-hour lab per week for 14 weeks = 42 lab hours

• 3-credit project design course:

1 classroom meeting per week for 14 weeks = 14 lecture hours (plus one week for examinations)

2 credits of laboratory = 6 hours of laboratory per week for 14 weeks = 84 lab hours

B.1.2 Mapping of the computer engineering BOK to a sample curriculum

Each sample curriculum contains a table that maps the computer engineering BOK to the sample curriculum. The table rows contain course numbers with BOK knowledge areas (KA) as column headers. If an entry in a row is non- empty, then it contains the numbered knowledge units (KUs) from the knowledge area covered in that course. For example, the entry 1-3,5 under the DIG knowledge area says that this course covers knowledge units 1,2,3 and 5 from CE-DIG. Note that:

• A course may have KUs from one KA, or it may have KUs from multiple KAs. • The same KU may appear in multiple courses. For example, a two course sequence in digital design may

both contain the DIG-1,2 KUs as both courses may cover history and relevant tools/standards/constraints, but from different perspectives.

The last three rows of each table are summary/reference rows. The last table row contains the minimum Core BOK hours for each knowledge area as a reference. The rows labeled Core BOK Units and Supplementary BOK Units lists the knowledge units from each knowledge area covered by this sample curriculum. Since all of the sample curricula have complete BOK core coverage, the row labeled Core BOK Units contains all core knowledge units from the knowledge areas. The row labeled Supplementary BOK Units may contain non-empty entries, which list the supplementary BOK knowledge units covered in those knowledge areas. The sample curricula do not cover all of the supplementary BOK knowledge units and the coverage shown does not convey a priority or recommended coverage.

B.1.3 Course descriptions

The provided course descriptions are what might typically appear in a course catalog. Because of their length, the topics listed in these short descriptions are not an exhaustive list of topics taught in these courses. A list of the BOK knowledge areas and knowledge units covered by these courses augment these descriptions.