How is our first year different? 

  Timetable: We've changed the first-year engineering timetable to help you with school/life balance.

  Classes: We've made your classes broader and more relevant to real-world engineering.

  Grading: You'll be graded on your competency and skills, not how well you can memorize large amounts of material.  

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Redesigned to support your learning and school/life balance

Consistent Schedule: All first years share a similar schedule (with common lunch breaks, coordinated start/end times, and daily help sessions) so it's easier to have community-building social events and extracurriculars, or fit in some exercise. 

Modular Courses: Instead of taking five or six classes that last the full semester, courses will be shorter so we have the flexibility to cover more essential material with you.

Just-in-Time Learning: Material will be carefully sequenced, so when you learn material in one course, you'll be able to immediately apply it in another. 

Half-Speed Option: Students may choose to reduce their course load, extending their required first-year courses over two years, to allow for more time for family, a job, sports, extracurricular activities or studying.

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Revitalized to get you inspired and excited about engineering.

Strong transition to engineering

• Engineering Jumpstarts before your classes start in fall, so you know you're prepared for first year
• Review of life and study skills, including time management, critical thinking and peer-to-peer teaching skills
• Introduction to engineering: scope of the profession and career paths

Broader exposure to natural sciences

• Get a strong introduction to the natural sciences in fall term, rather than taking one natural science elective
• Take short courses in chemistry, biology, physics and geology
• You'll understand how the sciences relate to each other and engineering

Introduction to all engineering disciplines

• Spend a day with each of your top discipline choices before end of Fall Term
• Choose your discipline before end of Winter Term
• Do Discipline Bridge Course at end of Winter Term to get motivated and excited about second-year engineering

Holistic approach to the engineering profession

• Business content focussed on awareness of entrepreneurship and how that relates to design
• Understand and appreciate the importance of respect, diversity, and inclusivity
• Learn Indigenous cultural context, settign the stage for integration of Indigenous content in the curriculum

Be more employable after first-year

• Proficiency in one computer-programming language
• Training in basic first-aid, CPR, and WHMIS training and understanding of an engineer's professional obigation for health and safety

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Refocused so you can master the skills you need

Evaluation throughout the semester: You will be tested on modules of content throughout your courses using competency-based assessment.

70 percent minimum on basic material: You will need to achieve a mark of at least 70 percent on material involving facts, concepts, basic computations, and procedural steps, as well as basic integrative problems in the course. There will be no minimum standard for the very advanced material.

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