In 2016 I took on the responsibility of developing the conceptual framework and complete syllabus for a new course in the Electrical engineering program at UNSW Canberra. I subsequently initiated meetings with the academics from the Electrical Engineering discipline to discuss this new course and the outcomes of these meeting resulted in the following main requirements: a) The course should contain an introduction to electrical engineering concepts that will be covered in depth in third year courses of the program, b) The course should provide an introduction to the way mathematical concepts learned in Engineering Maths courses are applied in electrical engineering problem solving and c) The course should contain a large project for students to undertake in groups which introduces the practical aspects of the theory presented in the course.

To address these requirements I developed a syllabus and project task for the new course, Principles of Electrical Engineering. The project task to be completed by the students involves building a remotely controlled antenna which is capable of tracking a moving target that is emitting a high frequency electromagnetic signal. This project will require the students to master the following introductory concepts in the electrical engineering discipline: feedback control systems, digital modulation, spectrum of a signal and serial communications protocols. The project will also require the students to develop skills in analogue circuit design and the programming of microcontrollers.

I am also responsible for developing the project task for the 4th year course Electrical Engineering Design Practice. This course is completely project based with students working in groups to complete a design task. The project task requires the students to design a closed loop control system to automatically navigate a remote controlled vehicle around an obstacle course. The project required the students to program a software defined radio module to receive GPS coordinates from a GPS receiver mounted on the remote controlled car and then produce control commands to drive the car around the course. The project required the students to develop their skills in systems engineering and project management as well as apply their technical knowledge of control systems, serial communications, electromagnetic wave propagation and optimization.