Courses
taught in the
Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering
North
Dakota State University
ECE 461:
Controls Systems
Comments
Syllabus - HW & Solutions
- Resources - Comments
Fall 2022
Please give an example of something that was
done well in ECE 461/661
In-Person
§
Providing
examples for all content and concepts.
Live-Stream
§
I love the
amount of material and documentation.
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Kind professor
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The BisonAcademy references for homeworks,
tests, and notes were very useful
§
I have really
enjoyed the structure of all of Dr. Glower's classes. All notes/previous homeworks/previous exams being in one place for my
reference is a huge plus.
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Accessibility
to class. I really liked how there are many different options to attend class.
This makes going to work/other classes much easier. Also, Bison Academy is a
great resource.
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Lectures
provided ample examples for both learning and dissecting processes
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High
expectations
Online
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All of the youtube lectors are very helpful to reference or understand
topics at any given time.
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All material is
provided online to be viewed anytime.
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Course
organization was done really well. Knowing the dates when homeworks
and exams are is really nice for planning ahead on days that I knew I wasn't
going to be able to watch lectures.
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The
availability. Not every student is able to be on campus. Life happens. But Dr.
Glower's online resources make learning more accessible to anybody in any
situation. I wish more professors would follow in his foot
steps when it comes to providing many different avenues to learning.
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Notes on bison
academy are amazing, super helpful for following along
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I always
appreciate how Bison Academy is a wealth of resources including all lectures
from the first day of class, previous homework explanations, and that
everything is so well organized.
§
Bison Academy
is the single greatest resource in the ECE program!
Please give an example of something that need
to be improved in ECE 461/661
In-Person
§
Providing
explanation on why we solve a problem in the way shown.
Live-Stream
§
There were just
a couple places in the material/lecture notes that I found steps needed to be
broken down more clearly.
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Examples
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Nothing
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A tutorial
video on how to set of the plc for the first time
would be nice to have on bison academy.
§
eacher response to emails was fairly inconsistent, but had easily
accessible office hours
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Need a better
understanding of what is expected. A lot of times HW description and grading
didn’t align
Online
§
I did not
really enjoy having exam 3, then little in dead week and then the final during
finals. I believe exam 3 and the final can be combined and the class can be
finished in dead week
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I think
recording each online lecture would be a little improvement. There are the youtube videos on bison academy however it would be nice to
watch the exam answers through a recorded zoom meeting with an upload link to
blackboard after each one
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Nothing.
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A lab where we
implemented motor control would be really cool
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There is not
much I can think of, but perhaps posting recordings of the review sessions on
Bison Academy would be beneficial for students who are not in person that day.
Fall 2021
Please give an example of something that was
done well in ECE 461/661
In-Person
§
Multiple
avenues for finding information about a question.
§
Teaching and
resources
Live-Stream
§
The quick
feedback on assignments and tests. Overall this helped me learn and retain the
material much better.
§
Instruction of
concepts, explanations of applications in the workplace
Online
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All of the
previous semester's course work and current semester's course work is complete
and organized well
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Given every
opportunity to succeed through a multitude of teaching formats
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Online notes
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I like the
flexibility of being able to reference lectures when I’m stuck on homework
Please give an example of something that nends improvement in ECE 461/661
Live-Stream
§
In class
handouts. For some of the handouts I really didn't have time to complete them
in class. One idea would be to put the solution on the backside, in case the
class runs out of time.
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N/A
Online
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There are
several typos throughout the old semesters solutions
(I used mostly Fall 2020). Certain numbers are incorrect or the wrong number
was used. Usually the final number is correct though. This makes it difficult
to follow the work shown.
§
Clarification
about Bisonacademy's .net and .com differences.
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It would be
nice to see a compensator in action (akin to a lab)
§
It is harder to
make connections with classmates when everyone attends online.
Fall 2018 Student Comments:
▪ I appreciate Dr. Glower’s teaching style and homework. It all leads towards the tests he
▪ gives with no “curveballs” on the test.
▪ I really like Bison Academy and have found it useful even outside of class many times.
▪ Dr. Glower’s classes are always very insightful and well organized. He’s always willing to
▪ help outside of class.
▪ I have really enjoyed this class. Some topics were hard to grasp but going to class always
▪ helped answer my questions.
▪ Glower rocks! Always gives an abundance of information and documentation. Top 3
▪ instructor. 10/10 would recommend.
▪ Best instructor
Fall 2017 Student Comments:
▪ Very enjoyable class.
▪ Very well planned out class, learned a lot about how to use all the math we know.
▪ Very well taught class. With there was more PLC based content. Next level of program with RSLgx5000 would come with a simulator
▪ This is my 5th class with Dr. Glower. His quality of teaching is always very high. He is one of the best teachers in the department.
▪ The HW grading was pretty lenient whereas the tests were more of what I would want to see. The pace of the class was a little slow compared to Modern Controls. Overall, another good/great Glower class.
▪ Only complaint is that a low of what was maked wrong on the homework didn't seem to have an explanation of why.
▪ Add more lab components after PLC portion of the class.
Fall 2015 Student Comments
▪ Dr. Glower is probably the best instuctor that I've had at NDSU. He seems to focus on application based learning - a very good way for engineers to learn.
▪ Very good professor.l only negative comment is the notes he posts have errors in them.
▪ Glower is the man! Love having online references.
▪ Dr. Glower has always ahd still is one of the best professors here. He can explain complex concepts in a very simple and easy way to understand.
▪ Some more on board exmaples would be useful, not sust scanning through the notes posted online. Otherwise, great class!
▪ Best classes are with you. Thanks so much for a great semester!
▪ Online notes were not up to par with previous classes. Require more visits to office hours to clarify. Instructor was always willing to help though.
▪ Detailed example problems, showing every step on Bison Academy would be very helpful.
▪ Glower creates a great learniong environment and is always willing to help students.
▪ More exmaples in the lectures / notes would be helpful. Other than that, great course.
▪ My only problem with the class is that the online notes sometimes do not have a link to them.
▪ In his notes, sometimes he uses numers that he doesn't show how he got or what variable they represend which gets pretty confusing. WOuld be nice if he used blackboard so we could see what grade we are getting.
▪ The notes on Bison Academy were OK. Was hard sometimes when he skipped steps or just used a random number. Made following notes hard.
▪ Really like Bison Academy.
▪ My favorite professor.
▪ Please update your notes on Bison Academy.
▪ Very good course overall. I'm happy there will be more controls courses in the future. The only thing maybe to improve is the labs. The PLC stuff was fun and worth learning, but what other examples can be done?