A cross-curriculum open design platform approach to electronic and computing systems education

Abstract

This paper summarizes the experiences of global faculty (N. America, Europe, Asia) in using an open design platform approach for project-based active learning in electronics, computing and ICT engineering education. A common design platform was used to support courses spanning a range of university engineering levels from 2 nd year undergraduate to 2 nd second year postgraduate programs, and across a range of disciplines from Digital Systems, Embedded Systems, VLSI/SoC-Design, Digital Communications and Signal Processing.

A Review of Embedded Systems Education in the Arduino Age: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

“…Arduino has been adopted in many courses that span the engineering curriculum including Introduction to Engineering [18,[28][29][30][31][32][33], Chemistry [34][35], Physics [36][37][38], Electronics [39][40][41], Control and Robotics [19][20][42][43], Fuzzy Logic [44], and DSP [45]. Arduino with its overall simplicity, availability of on-line resources, ease of acquiring parts, and fast prototyping process overcomes many of the difficulties stated in [9]. However, this raises the question if adopting a single platform through the entire curriculum would limit the students' knowledge.…”

“…The idea to develop a single platform for all courses (E2LP) was followed to overcome difficulties with laboratory classes highlighted in [9]. These difficulties included the time needed to learn new tools, the time needed to acquire and/or fabricate new parts, the support needed for design tools, the little reuse of equipment across different courses, the time needed to manage projects.…”

Preparation of Engineering Students for Capstone Design Experience through a Microprocessors Course

“…This overall improved performance of students in their capstone course is partially due to the reduced learning time needed for new technology. It was stated in [16] that using different hardware platforms and laboratory tools across different courses can introduce around 30% overhead in both time and effort in order to learn the new tools. Hence, as students are already using a technology they are familiar with, they can advance in their capstone course at a faster pace.…”