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Increasing student engagement in Digital Logic through game-based laboratory assignments

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Conference

2019 ASEE PNW Section Conference

Location

Corvallis, Oregon

Publication Date

March 20, 2019

Start Date

March 20, 2019

End Date

March 22, 2019

DOI

10.18260/1-2--31882

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/31882

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Paper Authors

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Kevin P Pintong Oregon Institute of Technology

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Kevin Pintong is an assistant professor at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

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Philip W Howard PhD Oregon Institute of Technology

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Troy Thomas Scevers Oregon Tech

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Mr. Scevers is the program director for Embedded Systems Engineering Technology at Oregon Tech. He has been a professor for 5 years and an instructor for ten years before that. He teaches a variety of classes from C/C++ Programming , Networks, Real-Time Operating Systems, and SoC Design. He also has 5 years of industrial experience as an embedded software engineer.

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Allan Douglas Oregon Institute of Technology

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Allan Douglas is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Department at Oregon Institute of Technology. He earned a B.S. in Electrical from Oregon State University in 1991 and a M.S. Electrical Engineering from Oregon State University in 1993.

Professor Douglas has 25 years of industry experience in high-speed digital electronics and embedded systems design. He has founded two successful engineering consulting firms and continues to work in industry as a Lead Electrical Design Engineer and Electrical Engineering Manager.

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Abstract

Engaging Computer Engineering students at the freshman level can be a significant challenge since students at this level have not necessarily developed the skills necessary for more interesting tasks. Student engagement during this time can determine whether students will want to continue with the major. Another challenge in teaching students at this level is insufficient subject area to solve interesting and engaging problems. At , this is particularly difficult as combinational logic and sequential logic are presented as a two course sequence. In this poster, we present problems encountered in implementing game based laboratories in Digital Logic I. We present how to cover course content and learning objectives through game based laboratory assignments through techniques such as compartmentalization and black boxing of unlearned concepts. Two examples, a Pong-based schematic capture lab and a Tic-Tac-Toe based game are presented. Qualitative and quantitative data is presented comparing student engagement and perception of learning before and after the change to game-based laboratory assignments. Preliminary data indicates that game-based laboratory assignments can increase student engagement while maintaining the same learning outcomes.

Pintong, K. P., & Howard, P. W., & Scevers, T. T., & Douglas, A. (2019, March), Increasing student engagement in Digital Logic through game-based laboratory assignments Paper presented at 2019 ASEE PNW Section Conference, Corvallis, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--31882

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