Forum for Electromagnetic Research Methods and Application Technologies (FERMAT)

Modernizing Electromagnetics Education:

Incorporating a Coursework Element into an

Elementary Exam-oriented Electromagnetics

Module By

Soo Yong Lim (Grace)1*, Trevor Benson2*

1) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of

Nottingham Malaysia Campus, 43500 Selangor, Malaysia.

2) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of

Nottingham UK Campus, Nottingham, United Kingdom.

Abstract: Electromagnetics education constitutes core knowledge in electrical and/or electronics

(EE) engineering courses across the globe. Although there exists a global general consensus

pertaining to the content of elementary electromagnetics, the methods of delivery differ from

institution to institution. The current approaches to teaching elementary electromagnetics at the

undergraduate level range from assessing students’ performance purely from examinations, such

as mid-term tests and a final exam, to evaluating students’ understanding by incorporating

assignment questions and coursework. In this paper, the module H63FWA Fields Waves and

Antennas, which is being taught at The University of Nottingham, is taken as an example where

coursework that contains a research element is introduced into a previously 100% exam-based

module.

Keywords: Education courses; electromagnetics; electrical engineering education; electronics

engineering education.

References:

[1] M. F. Iskander, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves, 2nd ed., Waveland Press, Prospect Heights,

Illinois, 2013.

[2] F. T. Ulaby, E. Michielssen, and U. Ravaioli, Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, 6th

ed., Prentice Hall, 2010.

[3] W. H. Hayt, and J. A. Buck, Engineering Electromagnetics, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2009.

[4] D. K. Cheng, Field and Wave Electromagnetics, 2nd ed, Addison Wesley, 1989.

[5] J. D. Kraus, Electromagnetis, 4th ed, McGraw-Hill College, 1991.

[6] D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 4th ed, Wiley, 2012.

[7] S. Y. Lim, “Education for electromagnetics: Introducing electromagnetics as an appetizer

course for computer science and IT undergraduates,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation

Magazine, vol. 56, no. 5, pp. 216-222, October 2014.

Soo Yong Lim (Grace) received the BEng(Hons) degree in electronics majoring in

telecommunications from Multimedia University, Malaysia, in 2003 and the Ph.D. degree in

electrical engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, in 2010.

She is currently a faculty member with the Department of Electrical and Electronic

Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Prior to joining Nottingham in January

2014, she was with the Centre for Applied

Electromagnetic, Multimedia University from 2004 to

2006, and with Sunway University from 2011 to 2013.

Since January 2013, she has been appointed as an

adjunct faculty with the Hawaii Center for Advanced

Communications (HCAC), College of Engineering,

University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her current research

interest includes radio propagation modeling, channel

measurements, and ray tracing.

Dr. Grace Lim has served the IEEE Antennas and

Propagation Society as a member of the Education

Committee since 2011, and she is currently an

Associate Editor of the Computer Applications in

Engineering Education, published by John Wiley and

Sons. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and is a

registered engineer both with the Boards of Engineers

Malaysia (BEM) and with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). In 2012, she won the

Award for Achievement in Research for Early Career Researchers, Sunway University; and a

Bronze Medal at the Malaysia Technology Expo, awarded by the Malaysian Association of

Research Scientists.

*This use of this work is restricted solely for academic purposes. The author of this work owns the

copyright and no reproduction in any form is permitted without written permission by the author.

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Modernizing Electromagnetics Education: Incorporating a Coursework

Element into an Elementary Exam-oriented Electromagnetics Module

Soo Yong Lim (Grace)1* Trevor Benson2

1) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, 43500 Selangor, Malaysia.

2) Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Nottingham UK Campus, Nottingham, United Kingdom.

• Outline:

– Introduction

– Coursework • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Learning Outcomes Attainment • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Conclusion

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• Outline:

– Introduction

– Coursework • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Learning Outcomes Attainment • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Conclusion

• Electromagnetics education constitutes core knowledge in electrical and/or electronics (EE) engineering courses across the globe.

• A global general consensus exists pertaining to the content of elementary electromagnetics, but the method of delivery differs from institution to institution.

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REQUIRED EM COURSES

WEAKLY REQUIRED EM COURSES

ELECTIVES

HKU 1 Several (optics, EM)

SEU, CHINA 1 4 (microwave, antenna, EMC, CEM)

UESTC, CHINA 1 big course (>50 hrs) many

BIT, CHINA 1 NA

UIUC, USA 1 (Waves & Fields I) 1 (3 out of 5) (Waves & Fields II)

4 (optics, MIC, Antennas, RF)

NTU, Taiwan 2 4 (EMW, RF, MIC, Antennas)

NUS, S’PORE 1 2 (Micro. Engg)

NTU, S’PORE 1 1 (Microwave RF Engineering)

NIHON, JAPAN 2 (Electric, Magnetic) 2 (Intro EM Wave, EM Wave)

Table taken from [W. C. Chew, L. J. Jiang, W. X. Zhang, X. Q. Sheng, and J. Pan, “Comparing electromagnetics education in China, Hong Kong, and USA,” presented at the Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium, August 12-15, 2013, Stockholm, Sweden.]

• H63FWA Fields Waves and Antennas is taken as an example. - A third year module offered as a core module for EE students

enrolled in the MEng honours programme.

- An elective module for EE students enrolled in the BEng honours programme.

• Current approaches to teaching EM:- – Assessing students’ performance purely from

examination (e.g. mid-term tests, final exam).

– Evaluating students’ understanding by incorporating assignment questions and coursework.

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• H63FWA introduces students to the importance of electromagnetics in a variety of applications and covers analytic methods for calculating electromagnetic fields, Maxwell’s equations, plane electromagnetic wave propagation, and an introduction to antennas.

• It has four Learning Outcomes (LOs).

1

3

2

4

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• Outline:

– Introduction

– Coursework • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Learning Outcomes Attainment • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Conclusion

• The 2014/2015 Autumn Semester was the first time assessed coursework was introduced.

• The module structure and taught lecture content is identical across the two campuses and all formal quality assurance, reporting and monitoring procedures are shared.

• The coursework element differs to reflect the local research interests and experience of the lecturers delivering the module.

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• At the Malaysia Campus:- – Students worked on solving radio wave

propagation in a confined space of simple geometry.

• At the UK Campus:- – Students worked on the study of an electrostatic

potential problem (solution of Laplace’s equation in two-dimensions subject to boundary conditions), comparing the accuracy of numerical finite difference solutions with analytic ones.

• At the Malaysia Campus:-

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10 12 14 16 18 20 22-40

-35

-30

-25

-20

-15

Distance (m)

Receiv

ed P

ow

er

(dB

)

direct ray

refected ray

total ray

• At the UK Campus:-

– The coursework provides an introduction to the process of predicting and visualizing electrostatic potential and electric field distributions.

– It is concerned with the electrostatic potential obtained as a solution of Laplace’s Equation, studied in its two dimensional form, subject to certain boundary conditions.

– Solution technique: Finite Difference Method.

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• Several investigations:-

– Explore how the finite difference solution at a given point in space converges with a decrease in the problem mesh size (finer discretization).

– Examine how the required computational resources increase with the number of problem mesh points.

– Make comparison with the analytic solution to enable rounding errors to be explored.

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• Outline:

– Introduction

– Coursework • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Learning Outcomes Attainment • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Conclusion

• The 2014/2015 Autumn Semester:- – 58 students (Malaysia) – 57 students (UK)

• At the Malaysia Campus:- – Average marks for final exam: 60% – Average marks for coursework: 82% – Final exam marks spread across 36% to 81%

• At the UK Campus:- – Average marks for final exam: 64% – Average marks for coursework: 78% – Final exam marks spread across 22% to 95%

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• The distribution of marks (exam plus coursework) for H63FWA at the Malaysia Campus.

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

2

4

6

8

10

12

Marks (%)

Pro

bability D

istr

ibution

Distribution of Marks (UNMC)

• The distribution of marks (exam plus coursework) for H63FWA at the UK Campus.

6 18 30 42 54 66 78 900

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Marks (%)

Pro

bability D

istr

ibution

Distribution of Marks (UNUK)

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• The LO attainment for H63FWA at the Malaysia Campus.

1 2 3 40

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

LO

LO

att

ain

ment

(%)

LO Attainment (UNMC)

• Failure of LOs at the Malaysia Campus.

1 2 3 40

5

10

15

20

25

LO

% o

f S

tudents

who F

ailed L

Os

Failure of LOs (<40%)

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1

3

2

4

• Outline:

– Introduction

– Coursework • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Learning Outcomes Attainment • Malaysia Campus

• UK Campus

– Conclusion

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• The method of assessment for H63FWA has for many years involved a two-hour final exam at the end of the semester (100% exam-based assessment).

• In an effort to modernize the teaching of electromagnetics, a 10% assessed coursework has been newly introduced.

• A satisfactory attainment of module learning outcomes was achieved in the Autumn semester.

• Electromagnetics education is more than memorizing a set of formulas or familiarizing oneself with certain techniques to solve problems that are likely to be tested in the final exam.

• In the assessed coursework, students get to attempt solving real-world problems using knowledge gained from electromagnetics.

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