This card describes the changes introduced in a junior level electrical engineering lab class of 100 students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in order to achieve the following learning objectives:

1. Help students relate learning objectives in a sequence of freshman-junior lab classes in the
   circuits area that they have taken between their freshman and junior years (Connections).
2. Gain insight into senior-level follow-up classes (Connections).
3. Gain exposure to industry applications (Connections, Curiosity).
4. Explore multiple trade-offs and varied solutions to the same constrained engineering problem based on a targeted application with known constraints (Creating Value, Connections).
5. Use experience and knowledge to explore expanded solution spaces to a newly proposed
   engineering problem (Creating Value, Connections).

These goals listed are achieved through a lab exercise based on the design of Direct Current (DC)-DC converters. DC-DC converter design appears in differing levels of complexity across the sequence of lab classes that students take in the circuits area curriculum in the department of electrical engineering at the University of Illinois. These exercise uses four DC-DC converters namely, voltage dividers, Zener-diode based converters, Low dropout regulators (LDO), and switching converters, to illustrate trade-offs between efficiency, noise, and area.   Design of a simple LDO is a part of the junior level course while students are exposed to voltage dividers and Zener-diode based converters in earlier classes. Follow-up classes discuss advanced LDO design and switching converters. Assessment of student learning objectives is done using a combination of problem solving and reflection exercises, and survey questions at the end of the semester. A detailed description of this work is available in an ASEE publication. A copy of the paper is included with this card.