A studio format for innovative pedagogy in circuits and electronics

This paper describes a new approach to two undergraduate courses in circuits and electronics whereby lecture, recitation, computer, and laboratory activities are combined in a single studio facility. The revised format encourages students to learn by doing, not just listening, and it provides new opportunities for innovative pedagody using interactive multimedia to enhance student understanding of difficult concepts. Rensselaer has offered both courses in parallel pilot studio and traditional formats in the past academic year. The results of standard testing show no statistically significant differences. Nevertheless, the studio format appears to offer significant improvement in student motivation as evidenced by end-of-semester comments and a near perfect rate of attendance. The studio format also allows the instructor to quickly assess the effectiveness of a particular presentation and to provide optimum assistance to students with different learning styles and capabilities