A PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR TEACHING MATLAB PROGRAMMING IN AN UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING LABORATORY

The software MATLAB is one of the most used programming languages in engineering programs as well as in the industry. Several support packages have been developed to allow the interfacing of MATLAB with various hardware. This has made MATLAB a well sought after programming language option for engineers who work in areas such as robotics, image processing, data acquisition, and rapid control prototyping. In our electrical engineering undergraduate program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, located in South Central Region of USA, we developed a MATLAB programming course for second-year university students. The course has a lecture component and a computer laboratory component. The lecture covers the main concepts of MATLAB programming. The laboratory hands-on computer-based sessions allow students to apply the programming concepts by writing and testing MATLAB programs to solve engineering problems. These activities are designed to help students develop the necessary MATLAB programming skills that they can use in undergraduate research, capstone design projects, and other electrical engineering courses. This paper discusses the new pedagogical model developed for the computer laboratory and provides an example of activity and assignment. The paper also discusses the degree of success achieved using this pedagogical model and the level of students' mastery of the MALTAB programming concepts. To situate this paper within the context of existing literature, a number of important initiatives in introducing MATLAB programming undertaken by various engineering education programs are reviewed and discussed.