First Year Seminar Methods

All first year students at Penn State are required to take a first year seminar course. As stated by the Engineering Design and Innovation department at Penn State, first year seminars for students in engineering have the following objectives:⁴

The first year seminar in this study, aptly titled Laser Laser!, focuses on optics and photonics from a hands on standpoint. Laser Laser! is one of many first year seminars taught at Penn State, but the only one to the authors’ knowledge specifically on optics. Students are given enough information to facilitate individual experimentation within the parameters of the class. This course builds on the work of Kane and Venkatesulu presented at ASEE First Year Engineering Experience 2019.⁵ The following experiments and topics, in no particular order, were discussed:

Figures 1 and 2 show first year students participating laboratories within the class. In class experiments included absorption spectroscopy, pinhole cameras, fluorescence spectroscopy, building telescopes, and investigating fiber optics. Students were evaluated on class participation and via a worksheet completed during class.

Figure 1.

A student observes a ring light projected through a pinhole camera they made

Figure 2.

Students assemble a Galilean telescope on an optics rail

In addition to in-class experimentation students were led on tours of several locations on the Penn State campus including the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor, the Penn State Dairy Complex, Dr. Katia Lamer’s, of Brookhaven National Lab, mobile aerosol lidar suite, and Dr. Venkat Gopalan’s Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optical Characterization Lab at Penn State. Figure 3 shows students outside at the mobile lidar facility. Each tour facilitates students building familiarity with the campus, as well as introducing students to the scope of electrical engineering in the photonics field as well as giving opportunities to think outside the box.

Figure 3.

Students observe the operation of Dr. Katia Lamer’s, Brookhaven National Laboratory, mobile lidar

Senior Level Methods

The newly developed senior level course Applied Optics and Spectroscopy utilizes the mini-lecture paradigm similar to the project based learning photonics course at the University of Pittsburgh by Clark et al.⁶ A topic is presented to students during the first twenty minutes of class, and students then experiment with the topic and utilize it to make spectroscopic measurements. For many students this is their first experience in an optical engineering lab and serves as an introduction to the field on the whole. Figure 4 shows students aligning the optics of a spectrometer previously analyzed in the lecture portion of the class.

Figure 4.

Students aligning the optics of a spectrometer utilizing off-axis parabolic mirrors

Topics discussed in the class include the following:

In addition to the experimental portion of the class, students give biweekly presentations on papers that they have read. This facilitates students participating and taking an active part in the education of their classmates. Lastly, guest lectures are delivered by other faculty and experts in the field. This helps establish the breadth of the field of spectroscopy. Figure 5 and figure 6 respectively show students presenting and listening to a guest lecture. Students in the senior level course are graded on their biweekly presentations, class participation, one midterm, a final project, and problem sets administered throughout the semester.

Figure 5.

A student presents on the paper that they read the previous week

Figure 6.

Students listen intently to a guest lecture given by a representative of the Penn State Electro Optics Center

First Year Seminar Results

Student experience was gauged through the use of a focus group administered by a facilitator from the Leonhard Center for Enhancement of Engineering Education at Penn State. The report for the focus group stated that students found the tours of labs and hands-on experiences to be of significant value. After the course students were more enlightened on what a degree or career in electrical engineering can consist of, and how it is related to other fields such as chemistry. Consensus among students was that prior to the course they were unsure what “optics” meant as a field, but now feel well-informed about the field. The focus group included all students in the class, given its small size, and as such was representative of the demographics of this course. Unfortunately course demographics skewed strongly towards young white males, and as such this cannot be extrapolated to other more diverse programs within the university.

When asked for feedback on the course one student said:

”[The instructor] provided engaging projects that helped introduce me to possibilities in the field of electrical engineering. One thing I really appreciated was the friendly and open environment [the instructor] curated in the class. I felt more than safe to be inquisitive and explore. They allowed conversations to flow which was not only informative but fun too.”

Senior Level Results

The most notable result of Applied Optics and Spectroscopy is that students have gained a much more thorough understanding of the process for aligning optics. During the first day they needed to align a laser to a distant target; it took them approximately half an hour to ensure that the laser was parallel to the table. Approximately three weeks later they were able to align the optics for an absorption spectroscopy experiment, a more complex setup, within 10 minutes.

As students continued to present on papers they read they have gotten better at identifying what papers to present on as well as synthesizing the information into a format that their classmates can digest.

When asked for comments on the course one student had the following to say:

”The student-led research reports expand the scope of the course dramatically. Virtually every student found a different niche for the applications of spectroscopy. Almost every class has some sort of hands-on activity where we could see the day’s topic in action.”

It is worth noting that when the semester began, the student quoted above chose to drop another course in favor of this one for the “unique educational opportunity” it provides. In addition to that, students have been observed instructing each other on topics and addressing questions on their own. Each class they develop a plan together to assemble the experiment of the day.

On the last day of the semester an anonymous survey was given to the class. This survey allowed students to voice their thoughts on the class’s operation, their experience, and how material was presented. Questions were constructed using Likert scales, and whenever possible, phrase completion scales. As suggested in Hodge et al phrase completion scales can lead to higher quality data.⁷ The majority of students found that the freedom provided by the class structure and, built on labs and lectures, allowed them to learn better. Students were asked to rate on a five point Likert scale how much they agreed with the following statement: “I feel confident that with access to references and equipment I could set up a spectroscopy experiment in the lab or at work”. Three of eight students strongly agreed, four agreed, and two were neutral. Despite the small number of participants, this indicates that the root of the course is good, but still needs further refinement. Ideally, future students would all rate the prior statement with “strongly agree.”