COURSE FACT SHEET FOR PHYSICS DEPARTMENT PROGRAM REVIEW

1. Title, Course, Number, and Credit Hours. (Explain credit load of course if it is in some way unusual.)
Electronics, Physics 306, 3 credits

2. What is the catalog course description for the course?
For Science and Engineering majors. Digital circuits and design techniques, transistor and diode circuits, operational amplifiers, filters and signal sampling. Two lectures and one three hour laboratory each week.

3. What are the prerequisites or other background required of students for this course? Are these requirements adequate?
Physics 254 is the prerequisite for this course. For some students it has been many years since the prerequisite has been taken.

4. How does this course fit into the departmental program?
This is a required course for all Physics and Engineering majors. It is an advanced level physics course which assumes that students have completed the introductory physics sequence.

5. At what type of student is this course aimed? What gaps or needs in the curriculum is this course intended to fill?
This course is a required course for Physics and Engineering majors. It helps fill the need for a design oriented course.

6. How is this course important to a particular field of study?
This course is a requirement for Physics and Engineering majors. It is also very useful for Computer Science and Chemistry majors. It provides an good base for work in computer hardware and instrumentation work.

7. How is this course different from any other courses in the catalog or why must the material covered in the course be treated separately instead of being incorporated into another course?
This course is similar to the Concepts in Electronics course but this course is an advanced upper level course which assumes prerequisites. An understanding of electronics at any level can be helpful in many professions so it is likely that there be more than one course devoted to this field.

8. If this course is similar to another course in the catalog, explain why both courses should exist or suggest whether something should be dropped or changed.
This is a higher level course intended for science majors. Many career opportunities in science require a background in electronics and computer hardware. The course in Concepts in Electronics is intended for non-science majors with no physics background.

9. When, how and by whom is this course taught?
The course is usually taught alternate years in the evening. Dr. Burns is the instructor. There are 100 minutes of lecture and 150 minutes of lab work per week.

10. Are the current holdings of the O'Keefe Library adequate to support this course or are additional materials needed?
Journals which can be used for reading assignments are available in the O'Keefe Library and are adequate for this course.