Redesign of an introductory electronics class

In the summer of 1997, the ITESM initiated a project to reengineer the teaching-learning process at the 27 campuses of the system. The project incorporates the fundamental aspects written in the ITESM mission statement for the year 2005. In particular, to achieve the desired profile for the ITESM students, each course regardless of the discipline, must incorporate attitudes, values and abilities explicitly written on the mission statement. For instance, honesty, self-study, cooperative learning, autoevaluation, and critical thinking are, among others, some of the values and abilities distributed during the course. This distribution is performed adding procedural and attitudinal contents to the standard conceptual contents written in the analytical program for the course. This article presents the redesign of an introductory electronics class that is taken by junior students of the Electric and Mechanic Engineering Program at ITESM, Campus Monterrey. The redesign process implies the transformation of a traditional educative process, focused mainly on teaching and centered around the professor, to an educational process focused on learning and centered around the student. The paper describes an instructional model that strengthens the knowledge-acquisition stage, and promotes the development of abilities, attitudes and values.