The qualitative impact of using LEGO MINDSTORMS robots to teach computer engineering

Teaching introductory programming skills and embedded systems design to undergraduate engineering students in a variety of disciplines requires delivering the teaching content according to their learning styles. This paper describes how the LEGO MINDSTORMS robots were introduced as hands-on educational technology for computer engineering and provides student feedback measurements on the effectiveness of using the LEGO MINDSTORMS robots.     

Reflections on Teaching and Learning in an Advanced Undergraduate Course in Embedded Systems

An integrated series of courses on embedded systems has been developed at Iowa State University, Ames, spanning early undergraduate to graduate levels. The newest course in the series is CPRE 488: Embedded Systems Design, an advanced undergraduate course that fills a gap in the curriculum by providing system-level design experiences and incorporating new technology advancements. CPRE 488 development focused on lecture–lab integration and laboratory learning. Course and lab activities were designed using a learning model that captures lower-order and higher-order cognition levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The learning experience in the laboratory is characterized using a technique to assess cognitive behavior. Results of applying the Florida Taxonomy of Cognitive Behavior are presented to summarize the depth of student learning and the opportunities for students to progress to higher-order thinking in the laboratory. After two years of experience with the new course, the authors reflect on the course design and outcomes, from both disciplinary and pedagogical viewpoints.      

An undergraduate microcontroller systems laboratory

This paper discusses a course in microcontroller system design which was revised to facilitate improved student learning outcomes. The course aimed to develop design and technical skills, as well as communication and team management skills. A problem based learning (PBL) approach was taken, and the focus of the course was on the laboratory where the students worked on a major design project. Hardware was developed for the laboratory using the Motorola 68HC11 microcontroller which enabled the students to undertake a range of design activities. The students formed groups and were assigned a realistic design project to undertake over a semester. Evaluation of this course was obtained from students, staff and an external reviewer, and the results show that the revised course achieved its educational objectives     

A Progressive Design Approach to Enhance Project-Based Learning in Applied Electronics Through an Optoelectronic Sensing Project

In this paper, a progressive design learning approach is proposed in the course of ldquoapplied electronicsrdquo to help students to develop system design skills through an optoelectronic sensing project. This project offers a progressive guideline to lead student teams to design, build, and troubleshoot their optoelectronic systems. Such a system contains a light-source current stabilizer, a photodiode amplifier, a microcontroller system (including input and output), and optomechanical devices. In this approach, students are motivated to learn the required knowledge and skills in a future professional capacity. Those skills include designing specification, realizing teamwork and communication, and developing a variety of optoelectronic sensing techniques. Through this project, an optoelectronic sensing system is established called a spatial radiance distribution measurement system for various light sources. In particular, this kind of system is useful and important for LED industries. The course evaluations have been obtained from classmates and instructors and these results indicate that the objectives of this course are achieved.     

Implementing CS1 with embedded instructional research design in laboratories

Closed laboratories are becoming an increasingly popular approach to teaching introductory computer science courses. Unlike open laboratories that tend to be an informal environment provided for students to practice their skills with attendance optional, closed laboratories are structured meeting times that support the lecture component of the course, and attendance is required. This paper reports on an integrated approach to designing, implementing, and assessing laboratories with an embedded instructional research design. The activities reported here are parts of a departmentwide effort not only to improve student learning in computer science and computer engineering (CE) but also to improve the agility of the Computer Science and Engineering Department in adapting the curriculum to changing technologies, incorporate research, and validate the instructional strategies used. This paper presents the design and implementation of the laboratories and the results and analysis of student performance. Also described in this paper is cooperative learning in the laboratories and its impact on student learning.     

Use of Student Experiments for Teaching Embedded Software Development Including HW/SW Co-Design

Embedded systems have been applied widely, not only to consumer products and industrial machines, but also to new applications such as ubiquitous or sensor networking. The increasing role of software (SW) in embedded system development has caused a great demand for embedded SW engineers, and university education for embedded SW engineering has become important. The embedded software engineers should learn system architecture design and hardware (HW) technologies as well as SW technologies. However, only a few universities offer education courses for embedded software engineering that include system architecture design and HW technologies. This paper proposes a student experiment method that is designed to nurture embedded SW engineers by teaching these technologies. The proposed method includes an experiment for embedded SW development, an experiment for embedded HW development and a HW/SW co-design experiment, which help students learn system architecture design skills such as system modeling, HW/SW tradeoff design, and SW and HW module design. A model of each experiment was developed and evaluated.      

Modernization of teaching in embedded systems design-an international collaborative project

This paper describes the process of review, design, and delivery of a course in modern embedded systems, an international collaborative teaching project involving the University of New South Wales (Australia), Manchester University, and Imperial College, London University (United Kingdom). This project, being the first of its kind anywhere in the world, provides a learning environment that replicates the current industrial practice in embedded systems design in an easy and comprehensible setting, an environment where the processor, dedicated coprocessors, and software are all integrated to create a functional system such as used in sophisticated electronic devices, including mobile phones, Web phones, televisions, digital cameras, and personal digital assistants. Such collaborations are important in both reducing development costs in developing up-to-date, and increasingly sophisticated, courses and in addressing pedagogical issues that are common between computer and electrical engineering programs in all academic institutions. To assist students' learning experience, the course is supported with purpose built state-of-the-art programmable hardware and software development platforms, carefully planned laboratory experiments, lecture notes, weekly online quizzes, tutorials, and a companion CD-ROM as a learning tool. Since the introduction of this complete package, students' satisfaction, assessment results, and skills obtained through evaluation and assessment methods have improved markedly.     

A multidisciplinary cooperative problem-based learning approach toembedded systems design

A subject introducing embedded systems design to second-gear undergraduate students is described. The subject provides units introducing microprocessors and CAD tools for electronic circuit design and integrates these units into a single cohesive subject by means of a group project. The subject is developed as a multidisciplinary cooperative problem-based learning program with the base groups structured to comprise members from different degree programs offered by the School of Engineering at James Cook University, Australia. Initial results show that cooperative problem-based learning can be used to develop problem-solving, teamwork and lifelong learning skills as well as producing a level of technical knowledge beyond that of individual achievement     

Learning systems design with UML and patterns

Research in educational multimedia shows many benefits of learning with the use of multimedia environments. To take advantage of these benefits, the authors developed a multimedia assisted teaching environment (MATE), which is being tried in supporting their teaching of information technology (IT) subjects, MATE's main strength is its ability to facilitate reuse of multimedia components while developing teaching material. In this paper, MATE is described from the perspective of a student learning systems analysis and design via projects and case studies. The workings of the MATE tool are illustrated with an example that shows their approach to teaching design skills with reusable design patterns.     

Knowledge-based web-enabled agents and intelligent tutoring systems

Intelligent tutoring systems have been in existence for decades, and their characteristics can be beneficially applied in environments utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). The "intelligence" in these systems is seen through the way these systems adapt themselves to the characteristics of the students, such as speed of learning, specific areas in which the student excels as well as falls behind, and rate of learning as more knowledge is learned. In such intelligent learning environments, the agent or set of agents can be modeled to perform pedagogical tasks. This paper considers the necessary characteristics that constitute a good intelligent tutoring system. This paper introduces a framework incorporating an incremental machine-learning approach to capture 1) the dynamics of knowledge creation in the domain of interest and 2) the learned-knowledge content of the student over time. Some of the components of the proposed system are illustrated using examples from an introductory course on database design.     

Enhancement of Student Learning in Experimental Design Using a Virtual Laboratory

This paper describes the instructional design, implementation, and assessment of a virtual laboratory based on a numerical simulation of a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, the virtual CVD laboratory. The virtual CVD laboratory provides a capstone experience in which students synthesize engineering science and statistics principles and have the opportunity to apply experimental design in the context similar to that of a practicing engineer in industry with a wider design space than is typically seen in the undergraduate laboratory. The simulation of the reactor is based on fundamental principles of mass transfer and chemical reaction, obscured by added ldquonoise.rdquo The software application contains a 3-D student client that simulates a cleanroom environment, an instructor Web interface with integrated assessment tools, and a database server. As opposed to being constructed as a direct one-to-one replacement, this virtual laboratory is intended to complement the physical laboratories in the curriculum so that certain specific elements of student learning can be enhanced. Implementation in four classes is described. Assessment demonstrates students are using an iterative experimental design process reflective of practicing engineers and correlates success in this project to higher order thinking skills. Student surveys indicate that students perceived the virtual CVD laboratory as the most effective learning medium used, even above physical laboratories.     

An interdisciplinary laboratory sequence in electrical and computerengineering: curriculum design and assessment results

In the fall quarter of 1997, the Auburn University Electrical Engineering Department (USA) implemented a new, interdisciplinary core laboratory sequence. This new laboratory sequence was one outcome of a complete curriculum revision based on four years of work by the departmental Curriculum Study Committee. This paper presents the laboratory curriculum design, and the results of a multi-part assessment conducted beginning one year after implementation. Many students are initially surprised by the level of challenge provided in the first laboratory course, but readily accommodate as they progress through the sequence. A multifaceted assessment strategy has evolved which uses end-of-term student evaluations, retrospective student evaluations, student oral interviews, and faculty interviews. The assessment information is used to improve the laboratories through modification of the laboratory manuals, better instructions to graduate teaching assistants, modifications of experiments, and a purposeful effort to keep all faculty informed of laboratory course content so they can build upon the laboratory experience in classroom teaching. The overall result of the new laboratory experience is that students have a more integrated approach to design and a much better understanding of the hardware, software and instrumentation used in electrical engineering practice. In addition, students who complete the sequence have better oral and written communication skills, and are more confident in approaching job interviews and initial job challenges     

International humanitarian engineering

Many engineering educators want their students to travel internationally to engage with marginalized communities. International service learning placements offer pedagogical advantages such as practical design experience, opportunities to develop communication skills, and a means to see technology in a broader perspective. But there are some legitimate ethical concerns as well. Qualitative, phenomenographic research was conducted in order to understand the benefits and limitations of international humanitarian engineering placements. Thirty-two semistructured research interviews were conducted in Canada and Ghana before an analysis resulted in a distinct outcome space. It is concluded that placements must be considered on a case-by-case basis as the placements by themselves are neither inherently good nor bad, and there are many potential problems. The success of an international engineering humanitarian placement often depends on intangible qualities, such as the student's attitude, communication skills, and cultural awareness.     

Senior design project: undergraduate thesis

Engineering design has become a critical element of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. To become accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requires that at least 24 credits of design content be included in the four-year undergraduate engineering curriculum. Senior design is the principal course in which students apply their knowledge in several disciplines to one project assignment and is a significant step towards meeting ABET requirements. Engineering experience acquired in the senior design course is a valuable aid to students as they learn how to apply theory to an actual design project. The senior design course develops project management and oral and written communication skills and enables students to learn scheduling, team coordination and cooperation, parts ordering, and cost/performance tradeoffs. Ten senior design projects that have won IEEE and SME student paper contests are presented herein as a guide in the difficult selection of suitable design topics. The unique nature of the senior design course requires certain departures from usual engineering course organization if students are to derive the maximum benefit. Senior design is nearly equivalent to an industrial internship and may be more valuable as the first step a student takes in making the transition to working engineer     

An Integrated Approach for Strategic Development of Engineering Curricula: Focus on Students' Design Skills

This paper proposes an integrated approach for developing the engineering curricula with a specific focus on engineering design. The proposed approach allows a continuous and coherent development of engineering students' design skills throughout the entire undergraduate curriculum. This ongoing design experience is delivered at an involvement and complexity level compatible with the students' study year. In the integrated approach, three different stages are identified: Structured Design Experience, Guided Design Experience, and Open-Ended Design Experience. The objectives, implementation mechanism, and the expected outcomes of each stage are outlined. The proposed methodology systematically develops not only design skills but also teamwork, communication skills, project management, and lifelong learning. The implementation of the proposed approach is demonstrated by presenting courses in the Electronics track which shows the gradual, integrated delivery of structured, guided, and open ended design experiences as students progress from the freshman to the final year of study. As a case study, the delivery of design skills using the proposed approach is assessed through the students' survey in the electrical engineering curriculum at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.      

Interactive online tutorial assistance for a first programming course

Web-based instruction shows great promise toward enriching the student learning experience. One particular area of interest is providing tutorial material and practice problems online so that classroom lecture time can be better utilized. However, the time and cost to develop full tutoring systems can be prohibitive. The project presented in this paper shows that low-cost online modules can be developed to complement existing course delivery methods. The key to the design is limiting the type of tutoring and focusing on instructional challenges involving the repetition of concepts that are introduced in the course lectures. For introductory programming courses, these challenges primarily involve the difficulties inherent in learning the syntax of a particular programming language and gaining sufficient familiarity with programming concepts, such as loops, conditional statements, and simple algorithms. The set of online modules was developed to reduce the need for repetition of these concepts during lectures. Thus, students benefit as they can gain knowledge and comprehension of these concepts at their own pace as they actively engage the tutorials and self-check exercises. The modules were used as an enhancement for an introductory programming course taught in C++ to first-year university students, some of whom had little or no programming experience. Feedback from students and instructors shows that the modules were useful and aided student learning.     

Exploration of communication models in the design of distributed embedded systems

Distributed embedded systems involve communication in various layers, and therefore their design is more difficult than of single embedded systems. This paper presents how communication exploration can be done in a design process of distributed embedded systems using an example of event‐triggered and time‐triggered communication. A design process begins from abstract specification without assuming any communication category, then explores the categories in a stepwise manner, followed by physical implementation synthesis. This encourages stepwise decision making, component and framework reuse, and early stage verification. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan© 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Four implementations of disconnected operation: a framework for acapstone project in operating systems

This paper describes a framework for a capstone project in operating systems that fulfills all learning objectives required from such courses while providing students with technical experience in a modern operating system. Specifically, this work proposes a structure for a project course whereby new, experimental, and academic operating system features are implemented in commercial operating systems. As an example of a realization of such a framework, the paper presents four platform-dependent implementations of "disconnected operation," a feature that allows network users to continue accessing data during temporary network failures. Additionally, the paper states that this framework provides a promising and solid environment for a capstone experience by balancing creative research work with an analytical design methodology and technical implementation skills     

A Digital Signal Processing Course for communication systemsapplications

A Digital Signal Processing Course oriented to communication systems engineering students is described. The course structure is presented in the paper together with quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the related features and performances. Specific indicators, related to topic specialization, and student involvement have been introduced in order to perform those evaluations. The very encouraging results obtained from the 1994/95 experience are reported, together with the consequent hints and perspectives for the near-future activity. The potentiality of the described course toward a heavy introduction of computer-aided design supports and tele-teaching within the conventional classroom activity is analyzed and commented upon     

Best Practices Involving Teamwork in the Classroom: Results From a Survey of 6435 Engineering Student Respondents

A teamwork survey was conducted at Oakland University, Rochester, MI, in 533 engineering and computer science courses over a two-year period. Of the 6435 student respondents, 4349 (68%) reported working in teams. Relative to the students who only worked individually, the students who worked in teams were significantly more likely to agree that the course had achieved its stated learning objectives (p < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that roughly one-quarter of the variance in belief about whether the objectives were met could be explained by four factors: 1) student satisfaction with the team experience; 2) the presence of instructor guidance related to teamwork; 3) the presence of slackers on teams; and 4) team size. Pearson product-moment correlations revealed statistically significant associations between agreement that the course objectives had been fulfilled and the use of student teams and between satisfaction with teams and the occurrences of instructor guidance on teamwork skills. These and other results suggest that assigning work to student teams can lead to learning benefits and student satisfaction, provided that the instructor pays attention to how the teams and the assignments are set up.