Introduction to control engineering using video clips

Consensus appears to be that a motivated student learns a subject of interest much faster, understands the subject deeper, remembers longer, and more importantly, is willing and eager to explore further with or without the instructor´s assistance. Based on this observation an unconventional, motivating-by-challenge approach has been experimental with by the author in teaching an entry level control course, where a pilot design project is employed that is woven into lectures from beginning to end. It is realized that the ultimate success of this approach hinges heavily on an intuitive understanding developed early in the course of dynamical behavior and the capability of a control system in compensating for the natural dynamics of a physical system. In this paper, an experimentation is reported on motivating the students using video clips of the history, state-of-the-affair and trends of control engineering in the introductory stage of an entry level control course. The effects of this approach on the students´ attitude, grades, and career awareness are presented, together with suggestions for improvement