Experiences in Digital Circuit

Design Courses:

A Self-Study Platform for Learning

David Bañeres, Robert Clarisó, Josep Jorba and Montse Serra,

Computer Science, Multimedia and Telecommunications Department,

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya,

1

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies

• Motivation

• Contribution

• Learning methodology

• Experimental results

• Current and future work

Outline

2

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

3

Motivation

Operating

System

Hardware

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

4

Motivation

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

5

Motivation

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

7

Motivation

6

Dout Banc

de

Registres

SL

E

SE

3

3

8

Din 8

clk

AND

8

8

A B

8

R NOT

8

A

8

R

Md

Memòria

ROM

64x8

M@

6

8 +

A B

6

Cin

S

Cout

6

0

1

8 7

+

jump @ PC+1

next @

3 -

+

VAL

1

3 REG (PC) load clear

6

E

S clk

ld_PC reset

6

+

-

3

+

3 Rd@

Rf@

+ A B

Cin

S

Cout

8

0

ld_BR

Q

Q'

D

S

R

load

clk

zero?

reset

0

+

-

VAL

+ -

1

8

6

+

1

- +

VAL

6 6

6

REG (B) load clear

8

E

S clk

ldB reset

8 8

Unitat

de control

selAdrBR

q6

ld_BR,

ld_Z ld_P

C selOpBR1

selOpBR0

selOpPC

q7 z

2

selAdrBR

A simple microprocessor

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Motivation

How to design a simple microprocessor

Computer Fundamentals

How to use a simple microprocessor

Computer Structure

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

9

Motivation

Computer Fundamentals

Course in the first semester on Degrees in Computer Science and

Telecommunication Engineering

High dropout of students (near 50% of enrollments)

Low student performance

Pass rate Computer Fundamentals

34,20

44,00

34,00 34,00 34,00

42,00

32,00

40,00

30,00

35,00

40,00

45,00

20101' 20102 20111 20112 20121 20122 20131 20132

Semestre

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Problem

Students have difficulties on learning:

• How a circuit works

• How to design a circuit

A PPT was used

to design a circuit No simulation was

performed

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Contribution

An Intelligent tutoring system to learn

digital circuit design

Simulation is

possible Graphical interface

to design a circuit

Automatic validation

towards the correct

solution

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

13

Learning Methdology

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

INCORRECT when

in1 = (0); in2 = (1)

Problem definition

DESIGN

VERIFY FEEDBACK

Design an AND gate

Experiential learning: trial-and-error

14

Experimental results

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

Students performance

Continous Assessment Final Mark

2011 2012 2011 2012

Percentage

(%)

Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall

Pass Act./

Used

88,7 83,2 85,2 80,2

Pass Act./

Not used

68,5 61,0 67,5 61,9

Total Pass

Act.

74,4 69,4 74,7 77,4 74,2 69,5 73,7 76,5

15

Experimental results

Continous Assessment Final Mark

2011 2012 2011 2012

Percentage

(%)

Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall

Pass Act./

Used

88,7 83,2 85,2 80,2

Pass Act./

Not used

68,5 61,0 67,5 61,9

Total Pass

Act.

74,4 69,4 74,7 77,4 74,2 69,5 73,7 76,5

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

Students performance

16

Experimental results

Continous Assessment Final Mark

2011 2012 2011 2012

Percentage

(%)

Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall Spr. Fall

Pass Act./

Used

88,7 83,2 85,2 80,2

Pass Act./

Not used

68,5 61,0 67,5 61,9

Total Pass

Act.

74,4 69,4 74,7 77,4 74,2 69,5 73,7 76,5

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

Students performance

17

Current and Future work New types of exercise

Karnaugh maps Time chart simulation

Finite state machines Hardware description

languages

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Current and Future work

Gamification

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Current and Future work

Competition

Rewards: additional points in the final mark

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

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Current and Future work

Dissemination

VerilUOC is used in a MOOC in Coursera (jointly with UAB)

First edition: ~20.000 enrollments

Second edition: Starting15th of february

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses

21

Questions

Experiences in Digital Circuit Design Courses