The European Conference on Technology in the Classroom 2015
, Brighton, United Kingdom
Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on Technology in the Classroom 2015
, Brighton, United Kingdom
Official Conference Proceedings

The European Conference on Technology in the Classroom 2015
, Brighton, United Kingdom
Official Conference Proceedings

Embedded systems and simulation distinguish modern professional electronic
engineering from that learnt at school. First year undergraduates typically have little
appreciation of engineering software capabilities and file handling beyond elementary
word processing. This year we expedited blended teaching through the experiential
based learning process via open source engineering software. Students engaged with
the entire electronic engineering product creation process from inception,
performance simulation, printed circuit board design, manufacture and assembly, to
cabinet design and complete finished product.
Currently students learn software skills using a mixture of electronic and mechanical
engineering software packages. Although these have professional capability they are
not available off-campus and are sometimes surprisingly poor in simulating real world
devices. In this paper we report use of LTspice, FreePCB and OpenSCAD for the
learning and teaching of analogue electronics simulation and manufacture.
Comparison of the software options, the type of tasks undertaken, examples of student
assignments and outputs, and learning achieved are presented. Examples of
assignment based learning, integration between the open source packages and
difficulties encountered are discussed. Evaluation of student attitudes and responses
to this method of learning and teaching are also discussed, and the educational
advantages of using this approach compared to the use of commercial packages is
highlighted.

Simon Busbridge
Deshinder Singh Gill