Thomas Berge
Maj. Deidre Garriott
Writing and Rhetoric I
7 July 2016

Signals and systems is taught by COL James Squire and is the third core class in the series designed to provide students the tools to analyze circuits. This course is for those who are seeking their electrical and computer engineering degrees. The electrical and computer engineering major is a very math intensive route and most students studying this field have a strong understanding in the higher level maths as well as strong problem solving skills. In this specific signals and systems course students will be expected to develop an intuition and a ability to analyze first-order and second-order circuits and nonelectrical systems as linear constant coefficient differential equations and transfer functions, develop skills necessary to design filters, and other systems that solve real-world relevant problems. Also they will enhance their individual working skills and communication skills. The usual work load for this course consist of regularly assigned homework and labs, some quizzes, two tests, and one final exam, any late work is not accepted and homework is due at the beginning of class. Homework is scored to either get a two which means correct and complete or a one which is full effort but incorrect answers and finally a zero which means the was no effort to attempt the assignment. COL Squires lays out a very detailed syllabus for his students and one that connects them to the knowledge they will need in order to succeed in his class.
COL James Squire is a full professor here at VMI, he is a West Point graduate of the class of 1989 and completed his doctorate at MIT where he taught, consulted in patent litigation and engineering and preformed biomedical engineering research. As part of the VMI teaching staff for sixteen years he has received the distinguished teaching award in 2002 and selected by Virginia for the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 2004.
In the syllabus for his signals and systems course, right away he made sure to clearly state in the course objectives section that his end goal for all his students is to successfully develop a thorough understanding of circuitry and nonelectrical systems. He does not only want the students to master the content from the textbooks and learn the math that goes with solving real world problems but also enhance their skills in design, hardware, and communication. Which shows the students that he is very goal oriented and wants his students to push themselves to meet his ending objectives set for them. In order to ultimately achieve these final objectives the students are required to have first taken the prerequisite courses electrical circuit analysis II and elementary differential equations to insure all who are enrolled in signals and systems are able to keep up and understand difficult terminology used during lectures. By reading through the syllabus one could imply that he expects the students to have a strong understand of the prerequisites due to the frequent use of very technical terminology that most would not understand. By explaining his end goals he is trying to persuade the students to be sure that they have a strong grasp on the topics and are able to apply there knowledge and keep up with the pace of the course.
COL Squire in his syllabus explains his grading and late policy on homework which appeals to the students logos. we would think it is the logical thing to do your homework and turn it in on time. He still explains that he does not except late work and homework will be graded on effort and correctness.