Outcome-based Approach in Teaching Digital Systems Design for Undergraduate Computer and Electronics Engineering Programs

Authors

  • C. Llorente Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Keywords:

Digital Systems Design, FPGA-Based Design, Outcome-Based Education, VHDL,

Abstract

The adoption by the Philippine Educational system of the K to 12 program, which puts an additional 2 years in the secondary education of high school students, prompted Higher Educational Institutions particularly offering engineering programs to rewrite the curriculum. With the new curriculum for all engineering programs already at the public consultation stage, the contents of the teaching materials must be adjusted to comply with the Outcome Based Education (OBE). In this work, an outcome-based laboratory manual for teaching digital systems design has been developed, and the approaches used in its adoption are described. Key features of the manual are the tutorials section which introduces VHDL and FPGA as the hardware modeling and implementation tools, and then followed by machine problems which are small projects that can be designed and implemented a team of students up to 5 members. The machine problems after implementation can be reused to develop the term project which has a higher level of complexity. Three ways of administering the course using the laboratory manual in three consecutive academic years are presented. Based on the experience, it is surmised that approach requiring students to devise their own experiments from solving machine problems while integrating the results of the tutorial to the theoretical framework section of the experiment document provided the balance between tutorial-based learning and output-based learning.

References

CHED CMO No. 37, Series of 2012, Policies and Standards in the Establishment of An Outcome-based Education (OBE) System in Higher Education Institutions Offering Engineering Programs, Commission on Higher Education, 2010.

M.MICKLE, “A Compiler Level Program for Teaching Digital Systems Design,” IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. E-12, NO. 4, December 1969, pp. 274 – 279.

A.D. Casaca, “Teaching digital-systems design with a microprocessorcontrolled patchboard”, IEE PROC, vol. 130, Pt. E, No. 3, MA Y1983, pp. 75–82.

C. Dawson, “The use of EPLD in Teaching Digital Systems Design,” unpublished, pp. 102-105.

P. von Glahn, “CAE and case studies applied to teaching digital systems design,” IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 1991.

C. H. Roth, “Teaching Digital Design Using VHDL,” IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 1994.

J.Loya-Hernández, J.-L. González-Vázquez, and M.I. Garduño-Mota, “Teaching Reconfigurable Hardware Using an Interdisciplinary Problem Based Model to Strengthen Digital Systems Design Skills in Electronic Engineering Undergraduates,” International Conference on Microelectronic Systems Education (MSE'07), 2007.

M.E. Radu and Shannon M. Sexton, “Integrating Extensive Functional Verification in Teaching Digital Design,” IEEE Trans. On Education, vol. 51, no. 3, pp 385 – 393, Aug. 2008.

O. B. Adamo, P. Guturu and M. R. Varanasi, “An innovative method of teaching digital system design in an undergraduate electrical and computer engineering curriculum,” IEEETransactions in Engineering Education, 2009.

K.Jelemenská, “Integration of ICT and Unconventional Teaching Approaches into the Digital Systems Design Education towards its Efficiency Enhancement,” IEEE International Conference on Emerging eLearning Technologies and Applications, November 8-9, 2012, pp. 173-178.

M.Pereira, P.Viera, A.Raabe and C.A. Zeferino, “A basic processor for teaching digital circuits and systems design with FPGA,” IEEE Publications, 2012.

I. Kastelan, N. Teslic and M. Temerinac,” Generic Processor for Unified Computer Engineering Learning Platform,” IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2013.

D.Baneres, “Towards an Analytical Framework to Enhance Teaching Support in Digital Systems Design Course,” Ninth International Conference on Complex, Intelligent, and Software Intensive Systems, 2015, pp.148-155.

S. Li, N. Zheng, C. Quan and Y.Chen, “Cultivating Students’ Innovative Practice Ability in Hardware Experiment,” International Journal of Education (IJE), Vol. 4, No. 2/3, September 2016, pp. 1-9.

C. Llorente, “VHDL Implementation of a Simple As Possible (SAP) Computer Architecture,” unpublished.

C. Llorente, “Implementation of the Serial Peripheral Interface Controller for the LTC 2624 DAC chip for Interfacing to the Microblaze-based Embedded System using the Spartan3E FPGA Starter Kit,” unpublished.

C. Llorente, “Implementation of the Serial Peripheral Interface Controller for the LTC 6912-1 OP AMP and the LTC 1407-1 ADC for Interfacing to the Microblaze-based Embedded System using the Spartan3E FPGA Starter Kit,” unpublished.

C. Llorente, “VHDL Modeling of an 8-bit RISC-alike Datapath,” unpublished.

Downloads

Published

2017-09-01

How to Cite

Llorente, C. (2017). Outcome-based Approach in Teaching Digital Systems Design for Undergraduate Computer and Electronics Engineering Programs. Journal of Telecommunication, Electronic and Computer Engineering (JTEC), 9(2-8), 113–118. Retrieved from https://jtec.utem.edu.my/jtec/article/view/2639