Design and Implementation of an Online Digital Design Course

Abstract

As the popularity of online education increases, many face-to-face electrical engineering courses are converted to be taught online. ABET outcomes must be considered to maintain equivalency between the online and face-to-face versions. The challenge exists on how to offer online students, who are physically dispersed, the same educational experience as the on-site students in terms of course content, hands-on lab experience, student support and assessment. This paper will discuss the conversion of a face-to-face 15-week lecture-lab Digital Design Fundamentals course to a 7.5-week equivalent online format. The creation, implementation and evaluation of the course will be discussed, focusing on how equivalency was maintained for the on-site and online versions. Specifically, the equivalency will be described in terms of course materials, hands-on labs, student support and assessment. The same course materials were used in both on-site and online versions. To have the same hands-on lab experience, students purchased an affordable lab kit to set up a home lab and perform the same lab exercises as in an on-campus lab. Piazza, an online Q&A discussion forum, was used to provide students with prompt answers to their questions, equivalent to but more convenient than on-campus office hours. Finally, to give the same assessment to online students as to on-site students, ProctorU, an online proctor service, was used in the final exam.The online course was first piloted in summer 2014 with 128 students enrolled. Since then, an additional 382 students took the course, which brought the total enrollment to 510 by the end of 2015. Student learning outcomes will be evaluated using an ABET assessment that was given to both on-site and online students. Student retention will be compared using DEW rate. Student perceptions of the course will be addressed based on anonymous teaching evaluations. Recommendations for future improvement will also be discussed.

Active Experiential Learning at a Distance

“…Wang & Goryll [27] results show similar knowledge retention and testing results while adhering to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) outcomes. Student attitude towards laboratory experiments in either face-to-face or online environments also showed no significant difference [27,28]. With this new knowledge, students can also pursue hobbies and projects relevant to the field of electronics using their equipment.…”

“…The fundamental knowledge gained from the course can be applied to future courses with the experience of using physical equipment. Wang & Goryll [27] demonstrate that the fundamental knowledge of electronics can be gained face-to-face or online using physical equipment. Wang & Goryll [27] results show similar knowledge retention and testing results while adhering to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) outcomes.…”

“…Wang & Goryll [27] demonstrate that the fundamental knowledge of electronics can be gained face-to-face or online using physical equipment. Wang & Goryll [27] results show similar knowledge retention and testing results while adhering to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) outcomes. Student attitude towards laboratory experiments in either face-to-face or online environments also showed no significant difference [27,28].…”

First Course in VHDL Modeling and FPGA Synthesis of Digital Systems

“…Additionally and unlike this work, we do not teach variables in our introductory course as we believe that this concept will cause confusion while it is not necessary to know variables to perform the lab assignments of this course. In [9] Wang and Goryll describe their Online Digital Design Course. They use a CAD tool called Logisim [10].…”

Experience of Teaching Introduction to Electrical Engineering with an Online Platform

“…It enables students with real-time hardware lab experience from anywhere 24/7 without any software installation or hardware setup on the student client's side. This is different from online teaching of a Digital Design course using a combination of online lectures and a home lab kit as studied in [10].…”