2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This discussion reports on our efforts to utilize open classroom time for hands-on experimental measurements as well as other hands-on engineering (ECE) projects. These in-class interactions increase student confidence with hands-on tools, where class time becomes time for group hardware discussions, particularly when students have attempted these measurement projects before the start of class. Students are motivated by the availability of time to work through technical issues as a community with their design system physically present. These efforts improves the student’s confidence in using their system tools, whether computer controlled USB devices (e.g. Analog Discovery), linear and nonlinear hardware circuits, to IC layout tools, and MATLAB tools for signal processing.

This discussion will describe our efforts utilizing hardware-based class projects throughout the undergraduate and graduate ECE curriculum. Revolutionary integrated circuit platforms are part of these efforts, and a history of these efforts will be described in this paper.

These efforts use in-class interaction to build in joint student--faculty discussions. Having students watch a selected thread of openly available video nuggets (4-8 minutes, developed at our institution, > 250 nuggets) before each class gives space for interactive student learning in the available faculty-student classroom time. The student’s availability to experimental tools enables students to try hands-on projects before class, enabling class time to work through student’s issues and increasing their confidence in these hardware tools and experimental measurements. These hands-on efforts include efforts in second-year core ECE courses, such as linear circuits and a first signal-processing course, through senior level and graduate level design and experimental measurements. We will be discussing our methodology, experiences, and results for these interactive and hands-on sessions.