The Applied EEE module is the practical spine of the first year. Where other modules introduce concepts in isolation, this one demands that students apply them together: designing, building, testing, and reporting on real engineering challenges across the year. It is assessed not through a single exam but through a portfolio of work that mirrors how engineers are evaluated in professional practice.
The module covers design-and-build challenges, MATLAB-driven laboratory work, data analysis, and professional communication, all documented through a continuous professional development record. Contact hours are deliberately intensive, combining weekly lectures, short laboratory sessions, four extended seven-hour laboratory days, and regular computing sessions.
As a PGTA on this module, I contributed to laboratory facilitation and student support across the cohort.
Why it matters
Engineering education is most effective when theory and practice develop together. Students who spend their first year only absorbing concepts in lectures, applied only in short isolated labs, are not developing the integrated capability that professional engineering requires. The Applied EEE module is built on a different premise: sustained, complex technical work, evaluated at multiple stages and in multiple formats, is the thing that builds engineers.
The extended project format also develops something that structured coursework rarely tests: the ability to maintain momentum and quality over months, communicate progress honestly, and adapt when problems do not resolve neatly.
Assessment
Assessment spans the full range of engineering outputs:
- 10% CPD report (5-page reflective report)
- 10% Lab logbook and project management record
- 5% Group poster presentation
- 10% Project finale: technical demonstration
- 10% Report 1 (12-page technical report)
- 15% Report 2 (17-page technical report)
- 20% Report 3 (22-page technical report)
- 10% Viva 1: practical skills demonstration
- 10% Viva 2: oral exam on project design
Contact hours
- One 2-hour lecture per week for 14 weeks
- One 4-hour laboratory per week for 7 weeks
- Four 7-hour laboratory days per week for 7 weeks
- One 3-hour computing session per week for 8 weeks
What students leave with
Students who complete this module have designed and built solutions to real engineering problems, produced professional-standard technical documentation across multiple formats, and demonstrated their work in oral and practical assessments. They leave the first year with direct experience of what sustained engineering work actually demands, which is the foundation everything that follows builds on.