Integrating Microelectronics into the Engineering Curriculum

A one-semester integrated microelectronics projects laboratory for junior-level electrical engineering students is described, which serves to educate the student in the physics and technology of microelectronics. The first third of the course is devoted to prescribed introductory experiments. In the final two-thirds of the semester, the student pursues a project of his own design. The curriculum of a first-year graduate course in microelectronics is also outlined.     

Cooperative Instruction in a Multisection Laboratory Course

The problem of stimulating interest and creativity in an introductory multisection laboratory course is a formidable obstacle when it is taught semester after semester. A method of cooperative instruction involving all laboratory instructors in the presentation during the lecture period is reported. Additional means for stimulating student interest and creativity are also outlined.     

Evaluating a Web Lecture Intervention in a Human–Computer Interaction Course

Research using Web lectures to enhance the classroom learning experience in an introductory human-computer interaction course is presented. By using Web lectures to present lecture material before class, more in-class time can be spent engaging students with hands-on learning activities-using class time for more learning by doing, less learning by listening. A quasi-experiment was conducted over a 15-week semester with 46 students in two sections of the same course-one section using Web lectures and one using traditional lectures. Many control measures were in place, including each section being taught by the same instructor and blind grading being used. The Web lecture section's grades were significantly higher than the traditional lecture section, and Web lecture students reported increasingly strong positive attitudes about the intervention. The twofold contribution of this work is a novel use of existing technology to improve learning and a longitudinal, quasi-experimental evaluation of its use in context     

Plasma etching and plasma physics experiments for the undergraduatemicroelectronics course

Many universities offer lecture/laboratory courses on the processing of microelectronic circuits; these courses are designed to introduce electrical or chemical engineering students to the fundamentals of integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. Given the nearly universal adoption of plasma processing by the IC industry, experiments with plasmas are a necessary addition to this type of course. In this paper, a modified microelectronics laboratory sequence is described which incorporates two new experiments. In the first experiment, students study the fundamental nature of plasmas used for materials processing. This is followed by a second experiment designed to investigate the effects of plasma reactor parameters on the resulting etch. These experiments can be performed on minimally modified industrial-type plasma etching reactors. The experiments described may be easily implemented at universities with a microelectronics fabrication program or course, and may also be applicable for training in an industrial setting. The goal of these two experiments is to give the student preparing for employment in an IC fabrication environment broad exposure to the fundamental physics of low-pressure plasmas, in addition to some knowledge of the impact of reactor settings on the quality of the resulting etch     

A project-oriented power engineering laboratory

This paper presents a power engineering educational laboratory suitable for undergraduate and graduate students. The laboratory development is based on the new academic system, called “Institut Universitaire Professionnalise (IUP)”, initiated in France. The pedagogical approach taken is one where the students revisit previously studied material placed in a practical context. This approach supports the prerequisite lecture material and allows study of some practical issues which are best handled in a laboratory setting. The experimental format gradually puts the students in touch with industrial realities. The laboratory experience culminates in a project, based on a computer aided design (CAD) technique, where the student analyzes, designs, simulates and demonstrates electric machines and power systems related topics     

A senior project course in digital signal processing with theTMS320

A senior project course on applications in digital signal processing (DSP) with the TMS320 digital signal processor is described. All experiments and projects are performed using Texas Instruments' TMS320 digital signal processor. The laboratory emphasis in the senior project course reinforces the concepts of DSP covered in the lecture course. Applications in DSP are in areas such as communications, controls, speech, graphics, etc. The DSP projects presented and demonstrated by the students in the spring of 1987 are discussed. These projects can provide a guide to individuals who may incorporate a hands-on approach to DSP in courses such as senior project, senior lab, or DSP lab using the versatile TMS 320 digital signal processor     

VECTOR: A Hands-On Approach That Makes Electromagnetics Relevant to Students

A two-course sequence in electromagnetics (EM) was developed in order to address a perceived lack of student learning and engagement observed in a traditional, lecture-based EM course. The two-course sequence is named VECTOR: Vitalizing Electromagnetic Concepts To Obtain Relevance. This paper reports on the first course of the sequence. VECTOR incorporates active learning methods with three projects to address three interrelated objectives: 1) to make the required EM course more relevant to students by demonstrating the impact of EM on emerging technologies; 2) to teach students how to utilize modern EM simulation and characterization tools; and 3) to improve student attitudes towards the introductory EM course in order to help pipeline students into the electromagnetics-photonics specialization in the undergraduate program. To assess the effectiveness of VECTOR the course was taught in a lecture format for one semester, then taught for three semesters in the project-based format. The assessment indicated that VECTOR caused significant changes to how and what students learned. VECTOR was effective in meeting the first objective, and achieved mixed success on the others.      

Introducing TCAD Tools in a Graduate Level Device Physics Course

The impact that project complexity, student prior academic achievement, and quality of instructional materials might have on student academic achievement was studied during a required device physics course, in which technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tools were introduced to first-year graduate students. Preliminary analysis of student performance and project complexity showed that students who attempted the most complex projects had the lowest student academic achievement, despite there being no significant differences in prior academic achievement as measured by grades in the first exam in the course. Further analysis of student achievement data from other electrical engineering courses taught in a similar open laboratory format, for which enhanced instructional materials were developed, suggest that when well-developed learning resources are easily accessible to students, project complexity has no negative impact on student academic achievement and can sometimes enhance student academic performance. Cognitive load theory was used to explain why well-developed instructional tools, such as enhanced tutorials, can help students better learn or work with complex material.      

Some aspects of developing a modern engineering graphics course

Some aspects of the development of a modern engineering graphics course for first-year engineering students are described. The objective of the course is to teach students the graphic presentation of 2-D and 3-D data, to give an understanding of the graphic-user/computer communication, and to apply these concepts efficiently to engineering problems. The course covers the mathematical principles of 2-D and 3-D data representation and the hardware and software components of a graphic system, and it includes a wide range of laboratory exercises to illustrate the concepts covered in the lecture. Some examples of student work are given     

Grades, Quizzes, Motivation, and Computers

The following paper describes the use of a simple FORTRAN computer program that may be used to determine course grades. The program is based on processing a set of IBM punched data cards. Each card contains the name of a student and all of his grades, including the final examination grade. The program may also be used to predict the final examination grade, based on previous quiz grades, and then, in turn, to predict the final course grade. It is thus possible to use this program periodically throughout the entire semester in order to provide the student, as well as the instructor, with a measure of his progress.     

Microcomputers for Data Acquisition, Control, and Automation?A Laboratory Course for Preengineering Students

A general engineering laboratory course featuring microcomputer interfacing for data acquisition, control, and automation is described. This course, available to all junior engineering students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was developed and run for 220 students in the Spring semester of 1984. The goals of the course were to: 1) provide experience in engineering problem solving and design; 2) teach and provide "hands-on" experience in the fundamentals of data acquisition and control using microcomputers; and 3) illustrate significant physical principles and engineering processes. The course included a short series of lectures on the fundamentals of microprocessors and the underlying theory of data acquisition (including sampling theory, signal conditioning, and analog-to-digital conversion). An extensive laboratory manual was developed to serve as the primary means of instruction. Three series of experiments were developed for this course. The microcomputer familiarization series gives the student background and experience in the use of the operating system commands, the high-level programming language, and how to use these in real-time application for data acquisition and control. The process control series is a problem-solving exercise in the instrumentation, control, and automation of the heating-mixing tank. The robotics series consists of the instrumentation, control, and application of a laboratory bench robot in a materials handling system. The implementation of this laboratory and its first offering are discussed. Problems involved with the equipment and the manual are presented. Student evaluations indicate the course was a success and faculty feedback is similarly positive.     

Development of an undergraduate structured laboratory to supportclassical and new base technology experiments in communications

This paper describes an effective method of teaching a communications laboratory course that supports classical as well as new base technology experiments to undergraduate electrical engineering students. Primarily, experiments dealing with the design of the basic building blocks of analog and digital communications systems are targeted, which provides an opportunity for the student to become familiar with various signal processing techniques applied in modern communications systems, to learn how to operate the communication laboratory test equipment, and to obtain exposure to some hardware/software design and implementation of these subsystems. The second level of experimentation involves a small system in which discrete or integrated devices are used to build small systems. Level three involves experimentation with a complete communications system, such as a fiber optics communications system or a simulated satellite link. Four sample experiments are described in some detail     

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     

Theory, simulation, experimentation: an integrated approach toteaching digital control systems

This paper discusses the approach adopted by the authors for teaching an undergraduate course (lecture and laboratory) in digital controls. Theoretical material is developed in the lecture concerning the application of direct digital control (DDC) to an analog bench-scale system consisting of a DC motor and tachometer. A simulation of the closed-loop control system with embedded digital controller is developed and run by the students using the TUTSIM dynamic simulation language. Finally, students perform a laboratory experiment in which they write a program to control the actual system using a personal computer and inexpensive interface card. The combination of hands-on experience and computer simulation with the more traditional, theoretical lecture material provides a well-rounded learning experience that better prepares the students to implement digital control systems in the real world     

An Individually Paced Introductory Course in Network Analysis

This paper describes some results of a course in network analysis taught to all electrical and mechanical engineering sophomores at the University of New Hampshire. The report covers two years experience with the course. The first year (spring 1971) forty students took the course under an individually prescribed instruction approach (IPI) while fifty students were taught with the standard lecture-recitation method. The second year (spring 1972), all seventy students took the course under PI. Comparison between students in IPI and the lecture-recitation method by semester end test, a three month retention test, and performance in the next electrical engineering course indicate no significant difference in the material learned. A detailed questionnaire was filled out by each IPI student. Most significant were the responses that indicated that although most students considered the IPI approach to be more work, most preferred it to the standard approach.     

Digital signal processing with applications: a new and successfulapproach to undergraduate DSP education

The new approach to undergraduate digital signal processing education at Purdue is based on a simple idea: emphasize applications. Students are assumed to have a significant exposure to sampling and discrete-time signals, systems, and transforms at the junior level. In the senior course, the traditional digital signal processing topics of digital filter design, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), radix-2 fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), and quantization are covered in the first five weeks of the semester. Coverage of these topics is augmented by treatment in the laboratory component of the course using diverse software tools and by Matlab-based homework assignments. The remainder of the course is devoted to treating the topics of speech processing and image processing in substantial depth and involves a design project. The course has been very successful in terms of increasing enrolment and outstanding student evaluations     

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.     

Using Monte Carlo simulations to introduce tolerance design toundergraduates

The effect of parameter variations on engineering systems is often neglected in undergraduate electrical engineering education. This paper proposes using Monte Carlo simulation to introduce students to tolerance design in the required electronics course where students perform designs using real electronic components. Monte Carlo simulation requires very little statistical background for the student and many software packages have built-in random number generators or even Monte Carlo simulation options, As a result, tolerance design is easily introduced to students in a short time frame. This paper discusses methods of introducing Monte Carlo simulations to the students in less than one hour of lecture. Example laboratory exercises and homework problems are described     

Computational electromagnetics in education at the University ofBradford, England

The incorporation of high-frequency computational electromagnetics into courses on antennas and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is reviewed. The lecture material consists of an overview of the main techniques, plus a deeper treatment of the method of moments and the planar near-to-far-field transformation method. Class exercises using moment-method software are possible in the Master of Science course. For the lecturer, and for students with a deeper interest in the area, the greatest benefit is undoubtedly obtained from dissertation projects which permit an extended study of some problem. These are usually chosen to have some element of novelty, and hence frequently produce some useful research return     

Video Tape Lecture-Demonstrations in a PSI Course

Color video tapes were prepared for each unit in a personalized system of instruction (PSI) electronics course to present background material, survey concepts, and demonstrate hardware. The 20 min tapes were provided to students as an optional learning resource of which 40 percent of the students chose to use. These tended to be students who use the resources available to obtain a higher grade in a PSI course than they might otherwise obtain in a lecture course. Use of the tapes had no effect on study habits or student motivation.