ballooning in near space,that attracts and engages students in undergraduate research early on, and improves their overalllearning experience at college. We first briefly describe an existing ballooning system designed forthe 2017 solar eclipse project, and then provide details of the subsystems of our own payload thatintegrates three different modes of communication technologies to enhance tracking capability ofthe balloon system. Combined with the Iridium-based balloon tracking, our multiband trackingsystem can be a useful tool for tracking of high-altitude ballooning systems and provide a platformof undergraduate research for further enhancements or modifications, ultimately contributing toimproving the student learning experience.1. Overview of
available, student built,and custom contract manufactured development kits. We also outline problems that an instruc-tor may come across in developing their own programmable logic development kit.1 Focus With a wide variety of FPGA development boards available, an instructor may consider de-veloping their own board or using a commercial off the shelf (COTS) solution. There are threeoptions we will evaluate. 1. Use a commercial board. 2. Assemble a custom-designed board with students as part of the course. 3. Design a custom board, but have it commercially assembled. The first option is the most common. Not only are commercial offerings reliable, but theyalso offer associated materials such as tutorials and pre-fabricated assignments
the Year inDelaware Valley, IEEE Philadelphia Section in 2004. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERIMENTAL PLATFORM FOR ANALYSIS OF CYBERATTACKS ON POWER GRIDAbstract This paper presents the development of a single generator networked control system (NCS)to provide an experimental platform for cyber security studies on the power grid. The generatorNCS is comprised of three main components: 1) a synchronous generator in a two-bus system, 2)a data acquisition (DAQ) unit, and 3) a controller connected in a local area network. The two-buspower grid consists of a LabVolt synchronous generator driven by a dynamometer serving as theprime mover, and the
experimental groups each completed four skills checks centered around the following topics: 1. Building a circuit on a breadboard, using a digital multimeter, and using a DC power supply. 2. Simulating a circuit in SPICE. 3. Solving for circuit values in MATLAB. 4. Using a function generator to produce a disturbance signal and an oscilloscope to measure signal values.Skills checks are scheduled to take place two to three lab periods after a new skill is introduced,requiring students to retain and recall abilities that they have previously learned. Skills checksare typically administered towards the beginning of a laboratory period, after the laboratoryassignment is introduced. A station is set up with equipment necessary to
; systems, and digital signal processing, are considered by students to be difficult andabstract. Software packages can provide examples and demonstrations to help students understand this challengingcontent. Several textbooks (e.g., [1], [2], [3]) incorporate modern software tools such as Matlab, Mathcad andWFilter (WFilter is a filter design tool included with textbook in Reference [3]). These texts are used in junior/seniorlevel courses as well as first year graduate courses. Examples using simulations can aid student visualization of theabstract concepts, but they also need to have an understanding of underlying mathematical concepts. Of course moststudents start using some of these tools in their earlier introductory courses and can apply them
SystemsTable 1: Basic structure of the two course EE sequence for non-EE majorsAs shown in Table 1, the second EE course both builds off the previous course, as well asintroducing topics quite separate from a traditional electrical or electronics topic sequence. Thereason the first course is kept somewhat generic with light coverage of three distinct topics(circuits, electronics, digital systems) is because it serves a wide population of non-EE students.The second course in the sequence is almost exclusively manufacturing students who rely on thecourse to prepare them both for their capstone project and for a subsequent robotics elective.Previous offerings (Spring 2015 and Spring 2014) of EE 352 followed a traditional structure of 3hours of lecture
Analog Discovery board into the freshman curriculum. Survey resultsindicate that students are benefiting from the use of the (ADB). A high percentage of studentsindicated that the use of the (ADB) was suited to their learning needs, and that the (ADB)motivated them to learn the course content. In addition, the students' base knowledge increasedas the result of use of the (ADB). Furthermore, through the integration of the ElectricalEngineering Practicum and the (ADB), the students developed interest in the course, developedskills in working collaboratively with fellow students, developed confidence in the content area.Moreover, the students developed attitudes of self-direction and self-responsibility.1 INTRODUCTIONIt has been reported
team-based projects. Given that research in studentlearning consistently shows that active learning and higher student participation leads to betterlearning outcomes [1][2], we have recently modified the course to increase student participationby requiring that students: a) do MATLAB reading and exercises in advance of the lecture time,b) utilize an in-class interaction system, c) use MATLAB on their laptops for in-class exercises,and d) attend programming labs. Given that ECE 102 does not deal with programming alone, wehave faced a problem of students passing the class without learning basic programming skills - acommon problem in any course in which students can collect partial credit. We are attempting toaddress this through pass/no-pass
corresponding convolution operations. The basis function resultscan be found from pencil-and-paper calculations or computed using MATLAB.MATLAB can also be used to approximately compute the continuous time convolution of awider class of signals than the piece-wise polynomial class. In a third assignment studentscompare the results of analytical convolution to those obtained approximately using MATLABand also to those obtained from circuit simulation.Theory ReviewA set of generalized delta functions1, 2 can be defined as: δ 0 (t ) = δ (t) t δ 1(t ) = ∫ δ 0 ( τ)d τ=u (t
support a decreased use of instructor lecture with an increase in studentexperimentation under instructor guidance. Variables of interest include examination of studentand faculty prerequisites of learning, immediate self-reported learning, and potential long-termtransferable outcomes. Observed and faculty reported changes in instructional practices are usedto develop patterns of instructor change in pedagogy and supports needed to change instructionalpractices. The overall purpose of the paper is to present 1) patterns of faculty refinement of thepedagogy, 2) resulting changes in student outcomes; 3) four patterns of student group-learningprocesses evolving from the use of experiential learning in flipped classrooms; and 4) adiscussion of how
challenge in teaching VHDL is to decide what to teach. Wehave crafted a 9-chapter manuscript for “Digital Systems”. There are two parts in each ofChapters 3 through 9, and one part in each of Chapters 1 and 2. Students learn digital systems’theory in Chapters 1 and 2 as well as Parts I of the rest of the chapters. This is basically what weused to teach before we added the VHDL portion to the course. VHDL modeling and FPGAsynthesis of digital systems are covered in Parts II of Chapters 3 through 9. Our paperfocusses on the topics and their specific order to teach this portion. (Please note that VHDLmodeling and FPGA synthesis of digital circuits is only one portion of this course. So thatstudents get up to 26% for their lab work, up to 17% for the
another course eachyear until all three courses are offered as mentioned above. As an example of the implementationprocess mentioned in Table 1, if the college has 7 programs, 5 programs should be part of theQEP process to have 60% programs participating by the end of 5 years. To rollout the QEPprocess, in the first year, one program participates as a WEP converting one of its courses towriting enriched. In the following year, two more programs join, while the first WEP programadds a second course that is writing enriched. During the third year, two more programs will joinwith at least one course as writing enriched. Therefore, by the end of the fifth year, all 5programs should be offering three writing enriched courses at the sophomore- to the
individually) is not a strong motivator. Instead,students recommended that activities be tied to extra credit such that they influence the coursegrade. Survey results also indicated that the groups’ of students often played games to win. Assuch, creating more meaningful goals/challenges for the students to complete may also help withmotivation.1. IntroductionThe popularity of games, especially video games, seems to be ever-increasing. Incorporatinggame-like elements into activities can potentially make them more appealing to people as well asincreasing levels of engagement. That is the theory behind gamification.“Gamification” is a term that is difficult to define [1], but generally refers to adding game-likeelements into an activity that is not
criteriaMixed-mode, or blended, instructional delivery, which often utilizes a Flipped Classroom (FC)approach, shows promise in delivering improved learning outcomes, supporting flexibility toaccommodate learners’ pace, and increasing scalability to serve large enrollments [1, 2]. In anFC, the initial phase of knowledge acquisition can be delivered asynchronously through theviewing of video clips, the review of slides, the reading of written passages, and the use of otherelectronic resources, such as animations and self-quizzes. This capability for asynchronousdelivery helps to facilitate learning at those times when the student is adequately prepared toacquire the material [3]. More significantly for technical curricula, it also frees in-class
signal. The majority ofthe time is spent constructing and troubleshooting a simple model for a traffic light controller,consisting of a 1 Hz oscillator, a two-bit counter, and a binary decoder to produce a four-statemachine. Red, yellow and green LEDs are connected to appropriate outputs so that the LEDsflash in the sequence produced by a two-way traffic signal. This project provides a way toconnect the abstract ideas of digital circuits and multi-state systems with an example fromeveryday life.The project has been conducted on an annual basis for over ten years. Key to the success of thisactivity is the support provided by faculty and students in the ECE department. Undergraduateand graduate students assist in construction and troubleshooting
Hampton University, VA. He received his electrical engineering doctorate from Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, in 2005. His research interests include System Level Synthesis Techniques and K-16 Integrative STEM education. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 ASEE HBCU Content Paper 1 AbstractThis paper presents findings from a new phase of a multi-year project that is initiatingtechnology supported experiment centric approaches to learning in electrical and computerengineering courses at 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. During this new phase, aseries of
. Vanessa Svihla, University of New Mexico Dr. Vanessa Svihla is a learning scientist and assistant professor at the University of New Mexico in the Organization, Information & Learning Sciences program, and in the Chemical & Biological Engineering Department. She served as Co-PI on an NSF RET Grant and a USDA NIFA grant, and is currently co-PI on three NSF-funded projects in engineering and computer science education, including a Revolutioniz- ing Engineering Departments project. She was selected as a National Academy of Education / Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Svihla studies learning in authentic, real world conditions; this includes a two- strand research program focused on (1) authentic assessment, often
, grading schemes, assignments, etc. In the end,statistically significant differences are observed in student grades between control sections andthose supported with online video recordings. It is the author’s opinion that repetition of coursematerial in a way that doesn’t affect time-in-class helped improve student success with minimaleffort on the instruction side.IntroductionThe flipped classrooms have gained in popularity by proposing exciting methods to betterprepare and engage the students throughout the content delivery process [1-4]. The effectivenessand student perception of flipped classrooms however, remains a topic of debate [5,6]. Thebiggest challenge of flipped classrooms is to ensure the students come prepared for the in-classlecture
the game logic (i.e. Control). Each of the listedconcepts is tied both to lecture and an individual lab, which again, the students use to graduallybuild the entire system component-by-component. The students implement their designs on theAltera DE2 Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)6. The Altera FPGA loaded with the Ponggame can be seen in Figure 1. Figure 1: The Altera DE2 FPGA Board running the Student's Lab Project Additionally, it well known that undergraduates struggle with hardware description languagessuch as Verilog and VHDL due to its software-like interface that looks nothing like the gates andstructures students see in class1. Therefore, I designed the first two lab assignments to be donewith schematic capture, which
have better understanding on the topics in 2015 and 2016. In addition, the teachingevaluations have improved over the past three years.I. IntroductionAs educators, we strongly agree that the primary mission of education is to prepare students forfuture leadership roles of the profession as well as to develop their abilities to remaincompetency through a lifelong learning experience. Effective teaching and active learning is themost important element to accomplish the above goals. The aim of teaching is not only to deliverknowledge to students, but also to transform students from passive recipients into active learnerswho are capable of constructing their own knowledge [1].Two primary challenges were identified in teaching engineering courses
breakdown is shown in Table 1; the group sizeranged from 6 to 11 students, with an average size of 8.25 students and for five of the eight yearsthe groups were 50% or more female with the average group being 48.5% female. The genderbalance is surprising since most females in the PGSS program gravitated toward biology andchemistry projects and often left mathematics, computer science, and physics projects with aminority of females. Other demographic information such as race, educational and/or economicbackground is not available since the projects studied span back 20 years and that data was notretained, nor can it be gathered easily now since contact information is not available for many ofthe participants. Table 1. Theremin
STEM professionals in a more effective way. Wedescribe the motivation for the tutorials and our approach to designing and developing thetutorials, and provide a list of planned topics. Assessment results are provided for two tutorials,one of which included an exercise that employed CORNET, an Internet-accessible software-defined radio testbed at Virginia Tech. The tutorials were piloted with ten students in agraduate-level software-defined radio course. Based on these results we present conclusions andapproaches for improving the initial tutorial exercise and tutorials and exercises to be developed.1. IntroductionMotivationCommunications systems and techniques can appear abstract to students and STEMprofessionals. For example, introductory
Paper ID #18204Integrating Computer Engineering Labs with ”Video Theme”Dr. Pong P. Chu, Cleveland State University Dr. Chu is Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He has taught undergraduate and graduate digital systems and computer architecture courses for more than two decades, and he has received multiple instructional grants from the National Science Foundation and authored six textbooks in this area. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 Integrating Computer Engineering Labs with a “Video Theme”1. Introduction A good
. In 2010, she was hired as an external evaluator to conduct research on community/university partnership relations at the University of Cincinnati. She has received several awards including the: 1) Lillian C. Sherman Award for outstanding academic achievement (2011); 2) UW College of Education outstanding research award (2015); and 3) UW College of Education outstanding service award (2016). Her research interests include partnerships with in pre-service and in-service teach- ers in STEM Education with a focus on engineering education applications. An active member of AERA, ASEE, ASTE, NARST, and NSTA, Dr. Burrows has presented at over 50 conferences, published in ranked journals (e.g. Journal of Chemical Education
present our University’s efforts to contribute to this need by way of a hands-onactivity designed for high school students. The workshop was devised to achieve three primarygoals: 1) Encourage consideration of a career in electrical and computer engineering 2) Buildexcitement about the Internet-of-Things and provide students with a future technical focus and 3)Introduce students to the fundamental building blocks that make up the Internet-of-Things. Duringthis activity, students complete a project in which they first construct a circuit to read data from atemperature sensor using a microcontroller platform. The students then write software to transmitthat data over a short-range wireless network and then eventually to an Internet-connected
microprocessor and computer architecture courses. For example, LabVIEW has a module called Elemental IO. With the use of this module and a microcontroller, several concepts in the microprocessors course could be implemented. In one of the homework students asked to write a program in LabVIEW to implement Etch-a-Sketch on ARM processor. Proteus Design Suite could be used for teaching peripherals such as LCD, Keypad, Interrupt, Timer, and ADC. In the following, students were asked to connect LCD to Arduino microcontroller in the microcontroller/peripheral course.Figure 1. Example of Proteus in the Microprocessor course.(b)-Electronics CoursesAll lab experiments in the online teaching of electronics courses have three parts:Theoretical Analysis:Example
SystemsAbstractStandards-based grading (SBG) is gaining popularity in K-12 education as it measures students’proficiency on a number of course objectives rather than to give a single grade that does not byitself convey how well the student understands each of the core concepts from the course.Whereas a single grade may be assigned based on the extent to which the student demonstratesproficiency on a number of course objectives, the focus is to give the student, as well as othereducators, a more detailed breakdown of the assessment of individual course objectives.This paper describes the implementation of SBG in a junior-level signals and systems course.SBG has been implemented in various undergraduate engineering courses [1-5] in recent yearsbut, to date, no one
successive programming courses. The results were analyzed using mixedmodel ANOVA for repeated measures of questions on self-efficacy, intimidation by programming,and feelings of inclusion.Statistically significant results include: We observed a decrease in self-efficacy during the termfor both courses in our study, although the effect is small and the decrease is slightly larger forURM students than non-URM students in Course 1; and a decrease in inclusion for students inCourse 1, though again the effect is small. Overall, the perceptions of URM students are similarto non-URM students.Introduction and MotivationA recent survey by the National Science Foundation showed that higher education is stillstruggling to increase the number of
these types of security projects become moreprevalent across undergraduate education. The descriptions will also detail the level of projectthat students of various backgrounds and class levels can accomplish within the cybersecurityfield without monetary resources or years of experience. This work will provide new instructorsand project supervisors information to guide similar projects, paving the way for much neededcybersecurity professionals to gain valuable experience during their undergraduateeducation.1 IntroductionDigital components are ubiquitous and widely integrated, including smart phones, tablets, laptops,servers, smart-home devices, etc. all networked together, leaving myriad vulnerabilities within thehardware and software