Last Thursday I was pleasantly surprised to discover that a faculty member, Keith Sanders, from Columbus State Community College, has endorsed the eSyst Systems View of Electronics Technology. Kieth has attended several of the MATEC NetWorks free webinars on the eSyst project (click here to hear the latest recorded eSyst webinars). Keith sent an email to the Engineering and Technology Education Listserv which reaches over 3,500 Engineering and Technology Faculty around the world. The email explained the background of the Systems View of Electronics versus the componet design of our “Legacy Electronics” Programs and ended with five questions he would like a response to from the Listserv members who teach electronics technology programs. The web site for eSyst is http://www.esyst.org/ if you would like to learn more about the Systems View of Electronics education being proposed.

Here are the five questions and I would like to hear your thoughts on each them.

Per Keith Sanders:
“I have been closely following the developments of MATEC, a NSF-funded group who have launched the esyst.org web site.  I have attended their conferences and webinars and have come to agree with their philosophy.  Now that we have made the decision to adopt this approach, we have come to the proverbial “the devil is in the details” stop on the road.
My questions for the listserve are:
1.  What is your opinion on the “legacy curriculum” vs. the systems view of EET?
2.  Have any of you taken the steps necessary to overhaul your curriculum to the systems view?
3.  If you have taken those steps, how did you do it?
4.  If you have taken those steps, what text books and lab manuals are you using?
5.  If you have been using the systems view for a while, have you noticed any significant change in graduates’ abilities or employment marketability? 
Thank you Keith for your support and questions.
Tom McGlew, eSyst Project Manager

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