Conference Session

Programming for Engineering Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Lusth, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

2006-1391: CONNECTING STUDENTS TO PROGRAMMING PROJECTS:AUDIO-BASED PROJECTS FOR DATA STRUCTURESJohn Lusth, University of Arkansas Dr. John Lusth is an Associate Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at the University of Arkansas. His research interests are quantum-scale computing and freshman/sophomore Computer Science education. Page 11.353.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006

Conference Session

Mobile Robotics in Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Parten, Texas Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

year so the robots also change.BEST is a volunteer, non-profit organization that must raise the money to support thegame and pay for the kits. The robots in the BEST competitions have been remotecontrolled type robots. The returnable kits are used each year and consist of the remotecontrol system with motors and servos. For some time, the BEST organization hasconsidered moving to a quasi-autonomous robot with microprocessor control. However,no systems have been found to meet the BEST requirements specifically in regard to cost,ease of use, ruggedness and reliability. The ECE Department at TTU has, for a number ofyears, used robotics projects with embedded microprocessors as an integral part of theproject laboratory program. The development of

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yul Chu, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

2006-12: A CLASS PROJECT FOR LOW-POWER CACHE MEMORYARCHITECTUREYul Chu, Mississippi State University Page 11.14.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 A Class Project for Low-Power Cache Memory ArchitectureAbstract This paper presents a class project for a graduate-level computer architecture course. The goalof the project is to let students (two or three students per team) understand the concept ofcomputer hardware and how to design a simple low-power cache memory for future processors.The project consists of three different tasks: 1) Design - Designing a low-power cache memory(instruction or data) at the abstract level after literature research; 2) Code

Conference Session

Issues in Computer Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Bower, Kansas State University-Salina

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

lofty goal becomes difficult to effectively implement inpractice. This paper reviews several approaches and environments for operating systemsprogramming projects. A new approach involving Linux kernel modules and source codereading is described as a means to supplement other programming projects.IntroductionIn an operating systems class, we want students to gain an understanding of the internal datastructures and algorithms used in real operating systems. As such, operating systems classesalways include a heavy lecture component to expound on such topics as common operatingsystems architectures, device and I/O management, process management, memory management,synchronization, and file system management. However, lectures alone are not able to

Conference Session

Mobile Robotics in Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bradley Bishop, U.S. Naval Academy; Carl Wick, U.S. Naval Academy; George Piper, U.S. Naval Academy

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

course1. Most approaches toinstruction in robot design focus on subsystem design followed by a common design project(typically involving a competition). While this method provides students with experience indesigning a robot to achieve certain objectives, there is often a distinct lack of rigor in the designprocess itself, with only success in the final competition as the metric by which the studentsevaluate their overall performance. Due to this ‘goal-minded’ behavior, students often resort toad hoc methods for design, losing sight of the principles of the discipline.To alleviate this problem, we provide students with an opportunity to develop their own designproject and then carry it out as part of a course on mobile robot design. Student teams

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rathika Rajaravivarma, Central CT State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

2006-1382: PEER ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGIES FOR ALABORATORY-BASED COURSERathika Rajaravivarma, Central CT State University Page 11.987.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006Peer Assessment Methodologies for a Laboratory-Based CourseAbstractAdvances in technology and the explosive growth of the Internet have called fornew ways of learning environment. The content delivery is no longer the passiveapproach of lecture emanating from the teacher to the student. It is imperativethat computer networking courses taught at the undergraduate level containadequate hands-on implementation based projects and experiments in order tobetter train students. The computing curricula 2001 (CC2001

Conference Session

Programming for Engineering Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ramzi Bualuan, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

Engineering Students Using Fun Animation in MATLABAbstract - This paper describes an approach to teach computer programming concepts tofirst-year engineering students. The environment of choice is Matlab, and the teachingmethod consists of requiring the students to create a project in which they will code acomputer game with the use of functions that are provided to them. The gaming aspect ofthe project generates a high level of fun which enhances the learning process. The projectis one of the four modules that Engineering Freshmen work on while taking their twoIntroduction to Engineering Systems courses. It spans half a semester, and, unlike theother three group-based projects, is individually-based.Matlab provides a wide range of animation tools

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Phillips, University of Guelph; Michele Oliver, University of Guelph; Bill Van Heyst, University of Guelph; Douglas Joy, University of Guelph; Warren Stiver, University of Guelph

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

design projects andultimately as alumni. Is the introduction in second year working? Are our senior students andalumni using CAD/CAE intelligently or are they using it as a black box? We opted to use recentcapstone design projects to provide some initial feedback. These projects have been conducted Page 11.340.3by students who have experienced our second year courses.Capstone design projects at Guelph are identified and developed by the students and completedin a single semester. Teams are typically made up of 3-4 students. Actual product development,prototyping and industrial collaborations are encouraged. Each design team has a faculty

Conference Session

Computing Tools for Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Asad Azemi, Pennsylvania State University; Laura L. Pauley

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

using the C++programming language. This work describes our current effort, as a pilot project, which can beused in an evaluation process by those departments that would like to substitute Matlab for C++.Those who would like to continue the current practice, but are looking for more challengingproblems or projects involving Matlab can also use the project outcome. The main reasonbehind switching to Matlab from C++ is the fact that many engineering faculty at Penn State, invarious departments, have recognized that the current courses teaching programming skills usingC++ are not fully utilized in later required courses in the curriculum. Increasingly inundergraduate courses in various engineering disciplines, Matlab is being used for

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Barrett, University of Wyoming; Daniel Pack, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

the testplan that validates and supports it. We realize that entire textbooks and courses havebeen devoted to this topic, but, often, an engineering program does not have room for astandalone course on this topic. In our institutions, we elected to emphasize and allowstudents to practice some of the basic tenets and proper procedures of testing anddocumentation in several senior and graduate level design, microcontroller and hardwaredescriptive language courses. In this paper we will briefly review the basic tenets oftesting and documentation and present some innovative methods of extracting test datafrom a hardware/software based project often found in a digital controller based system.We discuss how these tenets and techniques were adopted

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hugh Jack, Grand Valley State University; Nael Barakat, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

beplugged into, and draw power from a USB port for programming and simple testing. These boardscontained $20 worth of parts including the boards, however the students were charged $30 tocover assembly costs. Students were required to buy these boards. A second larger board (ownedby the department) was available for labs and projects. This board contained motor drivers, screwterminals, voltage regulators, and prototyping space. The two board arrangement allowed studentsto easily buy and carry the smaller board but take advantage of more mature features in the lab. Page 11.125.4The Design of the BoardsThe Atmel ATMega32 has 32K of flash memory, 2K of

Conference Session

Programming for Engineering Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Filsinger, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

lessonslearned from this first attempt, and presents a more technology-based project-oriented approachto such a course, outlining a ten week AI course tailored to the needs of our ECET students aswell as providing samples of possible projects.IntroductionOnce considered a topic for purely theoretical computer science, the field of artificial intelligence(AI) has found its way into a large number of real-world technology applications, particularly inthe area of control systems. As such, a course in AI is becoming increasingly important forelectrical and computer engineering technology students. The key features of a technology-based AI course are that it must deal with students who lack the extensive mathematicalbackground of a typical computer science

Conference Session

Embedded Computing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Clark Merkel, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; David Fisher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

capped by a three week project where the studentsdesign and build a system or device which uses the Handy Board microcontroller as thebrains for their project. As a first exposure to smart control, the Handy Board is an easy-to-use and robust hobby controller. However, it is not a commonly used industrialdevice, nor is it suited to be an embedded controller for projects in other courses whichthe students take later on.To address these perceived weaknesses, the course content has been expanded to includea module on programmable logic controllers (PLCs). A PLC is another name forindustrial computer. It has been designed to have features which make it very useful inan industrial setting, such as being rugged and reliable, having easy-to-access

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Anderson, Iowa State University; Thomas Daniels, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

). Page 11.1459.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Xen Worlds: Xen and the Art of Computer Engineering EducationAbstractXen Worlds is being developed to provide a method for performing assignments and lab work ininformation assurance, operating systems and networking courses that require root access to theindividual machines, or the entire network. Currently, there is no existing approach thataddresses the root access requirement and the entire life-cycle of an assignment from problemdefinition, to turn-in of the end product. The Xen Worlds project is aimed at creating a versatile“virtual lab” where an entire network of virtual machines, (a Xen World), can be provided toeach

Conference Session

Mobile Robotics in Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Ahlgren, Trinity College; Igor Verner, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

robot contests, provide students with a framework for effective learning anddevelopment of engineering aptitude. Experiences with integrating theoretical tests in the TrinityCollege Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest, National Botball Tournament, and InternationalRobot Olympiad are presented.IntroductionRobot competitions are widely recognized as effective motivational and organizationalframeworks for robotics research and project-based engineering education. Many educationalinstitutions develop programs in which student teams perform robot design projects throughcurricula and extracurricular activities and participate in local, national and international robotcontests. As motivators, guides, communicators, and evaluators of contest-oriented

Conference Session

Computing Tools for Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hassouneh Al-Matar, Oklahoma State University; Afshin Ghajar, Oklahoma State University; Ronald Delahoussaye, Oklahoma State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

been particularly important in appreciating thepower of numerical methods in solving engineering heat transfer problems. The softwaredescribed in this paper is based on the finite difference method and can handle three types ofboundary conditions (constant temperature, specified heat flux, and convection) and two types ofnumerical schemes (implicit and explicit). The user has access to a built in material propertieslibrary for selection of realistic material properties. The program provides tabular output,graphical output, and shaded and animated temperature plots for steady and transient cases. Theprimary goal of this project was to develop MS Windows based software that is effective forteaching; easy to use, maintain and update; and freely

Conference Session

Web-Based Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Rutkowski, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

place ofemployment, position, name of supervisor, address, dates of employment, job description andaccomplishments. Students can tailor these elements to their own particular educational andprofessional experiences. Faculty may also use certain elements, such as awards, grants, andpublications, to describe their own achievements. Faculty members can use the elements inPortfolio for developing their own tenure package. The categories also contain specific elements but give flexibility for the types ofinformation that may be entered. For example, educational documentation is an element used forentering artifacts such as class project reports, presentations, etc. For these elements, the usercan upload files or provide URL links to other

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Will Humphries, Virginia Tech; Justin Gawrilow, Virginia Tech; Manuel Perez-Quinones, Virginia Tech; Scott Turner, Virginia Tech; Stephen Edwards, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

(CMS) is the ability of students to view their gradesin a current class. This data is traditionally presented in a tabular format showing the student’s score oneach assignment. Moodle, an open source CMS, follows this trend when displaying its grade book datato students10. The benefits of visualizing numerical data in a graphical format include a more efficientand clearer interpretation of the data9.The goal for this project is to inform students more effectively of their performance in a course usingvisualizations of current assessments, comparisons with the class as a whole, and projections of potentialand expected future outcomes. In turn, this might allow students to change their behavior for the better,based on their observations of the

Conference Session

Issues in Digital Signal Processing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Kubichek, University of Wyoming; Thad Welch, U.S. Naval Academy; Cameron Wright, University of Wyoming

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

, andcan select the transmitter filter (none or Gaussian) in order to achieve their design goals. Aftereach set of parameters is entered, they run the simulation and quickly get the BER graph. Theseparameters are discussed only broadly in class, but using this package the students get a goodfeel about how they impact system performance. Page 11.33.11Figure 10. Screenshot of a BER plot for 2-FSK using Gaussian filtering and continuous symbolphase.3.3 Senior Design ProjectsA few students have also had the opportunity to use the PXI chassis as the basis for a seniordesign project. Only two of these projects will be discussed.In the first project the

Conference Session

Issues in Digital Signal Processing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cameron Wright, University of Wyoming; Michael Morrow, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Thad Welch, U.S. Naval Academy

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

radio (SDR). To understand a SDR, one needs to understandrate conversion. While the basics of the rate conversion theory have been well established fordecades, the inclusion of these topics at the undergraduate level can be fraught with teachingdangers. If realistic hardware projects and hardware-based demonstrations are to be included aspart of a course, the cost factors escalate rapidly. With most commercially available boardscosting more than $10,000 apiece, multiple boards to support such a course rapidly becomeprohibitively expensive.To support our desire to teach these topics at the undergraduate level, we felt it was necessary todevelop a low cost DSP board that would allow us to implement the realistic hardware projectsand hardware

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shahnam Navaee, Georgia Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

parts. Standard multiviews,auxiliary views, and sectional views can conveniently and efficiently be created from the createdsolid model in AutoCAD to better represent the detailed features of the object. A set of otherspecial solid modeling tools available in AutoCAD can further aid in creating a more realisticthree-dimensional representation of the studied object. The students can use the producedcomputer-aided drawings to check the validity of their hand-sketched drawings. Included in thepaper are several samples of solid modeling projects that can be used in an introductoryEngineering Graphics course to enhance and extend the students’ graphical communication skillsand visualization capabilities. The presented samples clearly establish the

Conference Session

Computing Tools for Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Raluca Rosca, University of Florida

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

homework assignments in those for-credit courses. As a result, the numberof students present for tutorials varied less during the semester, with a peak of 35. Elevenstudents asked MATLAB questions outside office hours via email. Because MATLABhomework was regularly assigned in EGM 4313 and EGM 4344, the office hours attendanceand the email volume was relatively constant during the semester, without the pre-project surgeobserved in the Fall offering.For the fourth and last offering, EML 4920- Spring 2005, an average of 55 studentsparticipated in the MATLAB classes, with a peak participation of 60. We have more data aboutthe students in this last offering, because they answered two surveys administered during thesemester. The following section

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Xueshu Song, Northern Illinois University; Abul Azad, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

journal and conference papers and one edited book in these areas. He has active membership and involvement in several learned societies, including the IEE, IEEE, ASEE, and ISA.Xueshu Song, Northern Illinois University Xueshu Song received his PhD from The Pennsylvania State University in 1989 and is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Illinois. He is a Professor of Engineering Technology at Northern Illinois University, USA. He has been the principal and co-principal investigator for eight application software development projects funded by the National Science Foundation. He is active in professional societies

Conference Session

Programming for Engineering Students

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Naveen Nattam, Purdue University; Kermin Martinez-Hernandez, Purdue University; Doug Danforth, Purdue University; Steve Emberton, Purdue University; Ryan Pedela, Purdue University; Eugene Elkin, Purdue University; Carlos Morales, Purdue University; Kellen Maicher, Purdue University; Gabriela Weaver, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

instructional media.The goal of our NSF project is to create a set of research-validated recommendations forthe development of science-centric video games. Research in instructional design andcognition have helped guide the types and amounts of educational activities that areincluded in the game. As a result of the development of a 3D immersive video game thatincludes chemistry-based challenges, we created a process that allows artists andinstructional personnel to create the necessary design documents to make an immersiveeducational video game. This process was developed over 8 months by aninterdisciplinary team of chemistry, computer graphics technology, and computer sciencestudents and faculty.IntroductionThe focus of our research is the

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Roxanne Toto, Pennsylvania State University; Mark Wharton, Pennsylvania State University; John Cimbala, Pennsylvania State University; John Wise, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

Instructional Systems at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include the design of online learning and how learning occurs in those environments. Address: 201 Hammond Building, University Park, PA 16802. Telephone: 814-865-4017, FAX: 814-865-4021, email: rtoto@psu.eduMark Wharton, Pennsylvania State University Mark J. Wharton is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Penn State. He teaches undergraduate courses in Electronics (Electronics I, II, and III) and Senior Project Design, the EE capstone design course. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State and his M.S. from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Prior to working at Penn State, Mark spent

Conference Session

Issues in Digital Signal Processing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

CHIH-WEI HUANG, Arizona State University; Ashwinn Natarajan, Arizona State University; Rony Ferzli, Arizona State University; Andreas Spanias, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

assess their understanding of real time DSP.The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section II discusses the hardwareaspect of this educational setup. In section III, we explain the software andinterfacing aspects of this project. Section IV outlines some of the functionsavailable to students, while section V provides concluding remarks. 2. HARDWARE OVERVIEW2.1 The TI DSK6713 boardThe TI DSK6713 board [8-12] is based on the TMS3206713 processor, which is afloating-point DSP chip operating at 225 MHz. The board also includes the 32-bitstereo codec TLV320AIC23 (AIC23) to access and produce input and outputanalog signals. Sampling rates can be varied between 8 and 96 kHz. The boardhas 16MB of SDRAM and 256kB of flash

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Lindquist, Arizona State University; Harry Koehnemann, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

, including software installation, configuration, and integration, which cannot be accomplished using resources directly available from ASU.• The laptop policy addresses the Division’s unique computing demands and provides access to the latest industry standard software at no cost to the student. Appendix A lists the current software requirements for Division courses.• A laptop policy permits faculty and instructors to make more immediate decisions on software selection for their courses, both software products and versions of those products. Students in group projects are also not constrained to software already installed on the campus builds.• The laptop policy increases the opportunity and impact of student mentoring

Conference Session

Web-Based Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tamara Knott, Virginia Tech; Steve York, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

2006-2238: A COMPARISON OF ON-LINE AND TRADITIONAL TESTINGMETHODSSteve York, Virginia Tech Dr. Steven C York is an assistant professor in the department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. He received his BS degree in chemistry from Radford University in 1984 and his PhD in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1999. Dr York has taught courses in engineering problem solving and design, chemical engineering and chemistry. Dr York has also designed and implemented a number of design-build projects and engineering laboratory experiences for first-year engineering students at VA Tech. Dr York is a member of ASEE and the American Chemical Society. Address: Engineering

Conference Session

Issues in Digital Signal Processing

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Murat Tanyel, Geneva College

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

2006-814: VIRTUAL TOOLKIT FOR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AS A TOOLFOR INNOVATIONMurat Tanyel, Geneva College Murat Tanyel is a professor of engineering at Geneva College. He teaches upper level electrical engineering courses. Prior to Geneva College, Dr. Tanyel taught at Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA from Aug. 1995 to Aug. 2003. Prior to 1995, he was at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA where he worked for the Enhanced Educational Experience for Engineering Students (E4) project, setting up and teaching laboratory and hands-on computer experiments for engineering freshmen and sophomores. For one semester, he was also a visiting professor at the United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain, UAE

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Lord, University of San Diego; Leonard Perry, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

, and even distributed learning. Course content developmentcan be a daunting and time consuming task for many engineering faculty. Making a gradualchange from their current mode of delivery might be most comfortable and beneficial. Theauthors will discuss their experiences and lessons learned in moving from using a blackboard,transparencies made using WORD, and computer projection of PowerPoint to using a Tablet PC.We hope that this work will be helpful to other engineering educators as they strive to improvetheir teaching effectiveness. A Tablet PC is not a substitute for effective teaching. However, itmight serve as a useful tool for our current students who are comfortable with technology andexpect it to be part of their daily