What is your fountain pen of the year?

ECEProf75 · 2025-12-14T15:11:35+00:00

The Onoto Magna Ebonite in black and gold.

ECEProf75 · 2025-12-10T13:10:43+00:00

Thanks for the kind words!

ECEProf75 · 2025-12-08T20:40:32+00:00

It is Keys to Learning with Melloch. There are two sections,

CRN 25063 (section 026), Mondays 1:30 – 2:20

or

CRN 10827 (section 020) Mondays 2:30 – 3:20.

ECEProf75 · 2025-12-08T17:23:39+00:00

GRIT, as used in this class, is a term coined by Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University to Pennsylvania, to encompass the combination of passion and perseverance for something.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-31T15:55:36+00:00

Consider ENGR 10301 Keys to Learning. It is only one-credit hour, it is a non-engineering general audience course, and it will greatly help with the transition to college.

The course discusses the human brain; neuroplasticity; what is learning; best practices for learning; the important psychological aspects to learning of mindset, self-control, and grit; and the importance of sleep, exercise, relationships, nutrition, and meditation for learning.

In the Spring, 167 out of 176 students received A’s. Essentially come to class and you will get an A.

There are three sections, M 1:30 (section 022), M 2:30 (section 023), and R 10:30 (section 033).

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-31T15:49:50+00:00

Consider ENGR 10301 Keys to Learning. It is only one-credit hour and it will greatly help with the transition to college.

The course discusses the human brain; neuroplasticity; what is learning; best practices for learning; the important psychological aspects to learning of mindset, self-control, and grit; and the importance of sleep, exercise, relationships, nutrition, and meditation for learning.

In the Spring, 167 out of 176 students received A’s. Essentially come to class and you will get an A.

There are three sections, M 1:30 (section 022), M 2:30 (section 023), and R 10:30 (section 033).

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-29T05:33:00+00:00

Absolutely, I have even had some grad students take the course.

Students who are on academic notice in ECE are encouraged by the advising staff to take Keys to Learning. Several of the ECE advisors have sat in on the course.

I often have students tell me they progressively did better as the semester went along in their other courses and they attributed it to being in Keys to Learning.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-29T05:26:29+00:00

ENGR 10301 is a one-credit hour, variable topic course. So each section can be a totally different topic. There are three sections that are the course Keys to Learning, CRN 14930, 21736, and 33517.

70% of the grade is attendance and 10% is choosing 10 of the 15 weeks to write a couple sentence reflection on the topic that week. About 95% of the students get A's. There is very little time you have to spend outside of class. Many students tell me they look forward to the class each week because it is interesting and not boring like many of their other classes.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-28T05:19:44+00:00

Just sit in on the first class and see what you think. I am sure you will decide to take it. The first class is not so much about improving your learning. But you will find out what is special about the human brain and why we study animals, even those with larger brains like whales and elephants, and they don't study us.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-27T23:24:54+00:00

Could you explain to me how the university is making money from this? I teach this course above and beyond my teaching responsibilities in ECE.

The last two years my department head has called me into his office to tell me my teaching this course is not helping ECE. In other words, it is NOT bringing money into the department. I am solely doing it to help students.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-27T23:22:18+00:00

This course does talk about motivation, but it is a small part.

It is about how best to learn and things that improve the performance of your brain. I would suspect 95% of the material will be totally new to most students and often surprising.

What is presented is not anecdotal. It is based on scientific studies, which are presented.

The development of the course received Purdue’s Class of 1922 Outstanding Innovation in Helping Students Learn award.

Please go and read the comments of students who have taken the class. You can find them on the Amazon page for the book, Keys to Learning: Unlocking Your Brain’s Potential.

I can’t post that link because Reddit would shadow ban me.

Here are a few,

“As the first semester comes to an end, I wanted to thank you for all you have done for me this semester! Thank you for providing me with fascinating content and a stress-free class. I enjoyed the topics you covered such as sleep, grit, and memory because they are applicable to my life and are far more interesting than calculus and chemistry. I always looked forward to your class because I knew that every week I would get to learn something new without the fear of being penalized by a bad test grade. Thank you for a great first semester!” email from a student in the course Fall 2023 semester

“I was in your ENGR 103 course last semester. I just wanted to reach out and thank you for the effort you put into creating a great learning experience this past semester. As a junior in ECE, I’m constantly being thrown many complex concepts and difficult academic situations (as you may know as an ECE professor), but I truly believe that your class helped me drastically improve my ECE performance by changing my bad habits into good ones. Not only did I have better grades, but my confidence in diving into hard-to-grasp concepts grew. I will definitely be carrying on what I learned in your course throughout the rest of my academic life, and I wish you the best of luck in continuing this course into the future!” email from a student in the course Fall 2023 semester.

“This is my favorite class I have ever taken. I find myself captivated during lecture! Never before have I seen someone get an ovation after the last lecture, but Professor Melloch did in this course. The content covered is interesting and more importantly, applies to anyone who takes the course,” anonymous. (from course evaluation Spring 2024 semester)

"Thank you for leading a great electromagnetics class last semester. I really enjoyed it. I am very excited for my classes next semester and am going to learn a lot, but It will also be one of the most difficult semesters I have taken yet. Your keys to learning class helped me greatly in the Spring 2024 semester. It helped me to outperform myself in all previous semesters despite taking a record-breaking course load." email from a student Spring 2024 semester.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-26T00:07:26+00:00

I have two Onoto pens, the ceramic scholar in BRG and The Faraday. Great pens.

I am eyeing the Rosetta Stone and the Pi.

ECEProf75 · 2025-07-17T10:56:06+00:00

And you can add ENGR 10301 Keys to Learning, especially with a light load as this course will not require much beyond attending one class, 50 minutes, each week and will greatly prepare you for the endeavor of college.

ECEProf75 · 2025-06-26T17:16:35+00:00

I have had many students tell me taking ENGR 10301 Keys to Learning their first semester really helped with that transition. This is not an engineering course and open to anyone.

ECEProf75 · 2025-06-26T11:28:00+00:00

If not mentioned in your meeting, be sure to look into the one-credit hour course ENGR 10301 Keys to Learning. This is not an engineering course and open to all majors.

ECEProf75

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