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Educational
Activities
by Dean J. Patterson
Chair, Educational Activities Committee
Following informal discussion on the ways in which the society could best provide for the educational needs of our members, it became clear that the development of educational videos, targeting specific tutorial type issues, could promise significant benefits all round. We could with the one product address the needs of IEEE members in general, Society members in particular, and also provide materials to support our chapters.
A two fold principle is in operation. Firstly our tutorials, and those at other conferences continue to draw increasing interest, and secondly IEEE professionally produced videos, with similar focus and duration are proving to be both of great interest in the market place, and financially viable. The IEEE Educational Activities group are highly competent in professional production of such videos, and are very enthusiastic about such projects.
The St. Louis meeting of the PELS AdCom voted to support an immediate investment in a video product which was at that stage in post production, entitled "Power Electronics and Motor Drives" and starring, amongst others, the well-known Dave Torrey.
The AdCom further provisionally committed funding to the development of another video, allowing us room to develop a proposal.
The educational activities committee met a few days later also at St. Louis, and after considerable discussion decided our next venture should be into a tutorial tape covering RFI / EMI / EMC issues, following a very successful tutorial in this area presented by Dan Mitchell. The Atlanta tutorial series was excellently managed by Dick Bass, who has played an active role in the current developments. I will be reporting back to the AdCom at New Orleans that a proposal is shaping up pretty well.
The IEEE has recently announced a continuing education self study course on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)/Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) by Dr. V. Prasad Kodali (call the IEEE for details). We are examining this product, and at this stage believe that we can complement it very effectively in the rather more compact medium of a video.
Details of the "Dave Torrey " spectacular have just been released. It runs for about 6 hours, has four tapes, has a set of notes, and a final exam. The five sections are "Introduction to Motion Control", with Charles Gross, "Introduction to Power Electronic Devices", with Elias Strangas, "Introduction to Power Electronic Circuits" with Dave Torrey, "Production of Torque in Machines", with Sheppard Salon, and "Modeling and Control of Induction Motors" again with Dave Torrey. The overall technical editor is the well-known Dick Hoft.
"Power Electronics and Motor Drives" is $699.00 Member Price and $749.00 List Price. Customers can order directly through the IEEE customer service department by calling +1-800-678-IEEE (4333) or by faxing, at +1-732 981-9667. For orders outside the USA and Canada, customers may call +1-732-981-0060. All video products are available in either NTSC or PAL standard.
IEEE Product Order numbers: Power Electronics and Motor Drives NTSC Product No. HV6973 PAL Product No. HV6974. More details at http://www.ieee.org/eab/.
Dean Patterson
PELS Educational Activities Chair
Faculty of Technology
Northern Territory University
Darwin, NT 0909
AUSTRALIA
TEL: +61 8 89 466389
FAX +61 8 89 466993 (paper)
FAX +61 8 89 466994 (pc, if running)
e-mail: patterson@darwin.ntu.edu.au