Improving the freshman electrical and computer engineering lab

Eisenhower, William R., Jr.

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Description

Title

Improving the freshman electrical and computer engineering lab

Author(s)

Eisenhower, William R., Jr.

Issue Date

2010-08-31T20:02:53Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Franke, Patricia M.

Department of Study

Electrical & Computer Eng

Discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• education
• ECE 110 (course)
• teaching
• Microcontroller
• Hardware Description Language (HDL)
• embedded systems

Abstract

This thesis covers the challenges of creating and maintaining an introductory engineering laboratory. The history of the University of Illinois Electrical and Computer Engineering department’s introductory course, ECE 110, is recounted. The current state of the course, as of Fall 2008, is discussed along with current challenges arising from the use of a hand-wired prototyping board with logic gates. A plan for overcoming these issues using a new microcontroller-based board with a pseudo hardware description language is discussed. The new microcontroller based system implementation is extensively detailed along with its new accompanying description language. This new system was tried in several sections of the Fall 2008 semester alongside the old system; the students’ final performances with the two different approaches are compared in terms of design, performance, complexity, and enjoyment. The system in its first run shows great promise, increasing the students’ enjoyment, and improving the performance of their designs.

Graduation Semester

2010-08

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16978

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2010 William R. Eisenhower, Jr.

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