Restructuring Basic Electronic Circuits Education Around Integrated Circuit Technology of the 1990s

本项目对电子学入门这门必修课程的结构进行了重大改变。从内容的角度来看，这一变化将重点从离散电子设备的建模和应用转移到设计、建模和应用集成电子设备。这一亟需的变化是由几个因素推动的：现有电子入门课程中的大部分材料已有25年的历史，从工业角度来看已经过时；高级课程不能建立在当前集成电子概念的基础上，因为课程中缺乏这些概念；大多数行业不再招聘BS级别的电子电路设计师，而是现在要求获得研究生学位。从教育学的角度来看，需要对实验室环境进行重大改变，以支持综合电子主题。在这个实验室里，学生设计和测试在工业中制造的基本集成电路。对于本练习，诊断探针站、工作站和CAD工具变得与示波器、万用表和信号发生器一样重要。在多工位工作区周围建立了一个开放的实验室环境，延长了工作时间，并提供了多媒体支持，从而更有效地利用了扩大的实验室设备要求。除了支持集成电子学概念所需的设备变化外，该项目还侧重于使实验室环境以学习为导向，而不是以教学为导向，由在实验室工作的学生的“教练员”取代助教，成为学生的顾问。实验室的期望也发生了变化，以提高团队合作技能和激发学生的创新能力。除了一组结构化的实验室实验外，还建立了一套四个里程碑。这些里程碑是开放式设计项目，它们促进了课程讲授部分和实验室结构部分中讨论的基本概念的整合。这些里程碑包括强调将环境传感器与基本电子设备和开发实用设计技能相结合。*

A major change in how the required introductory electronics course is structured is provided by this project. From a content viewpoint, this change shifts the emphasis from modeling and applications of discrete electronic devices to designing, modeling, and applying integrated electronic devices. This much needed change is driven by several factors: most material in existing introductory electronics courses is 25 years old and is obsolete from an industrial perspective; advanced courses cannot build on current integrated electronics concepts because they are lacking in the curriculum; and most industry is no longer hiring electronic circuit designers at the BS level but rather now requiring a graduate degree. From a pedagogical viewpoint, a major change in the laboratory environment is needed to support integrated electronic topics. In this laboratory, students design and test basic integrated circuits that are fabricated in industry. For this activity, diagnostic probe stations, workstations, and CAD tools become as important as oscilloscopes, multimeters, and signal generators. An open laboratory environment with extended operating hours and with multimedia support is developed around a multiple-station work area that makes more effective use of the expanded laboratory equipment requirements. In addition to the changes in equipment needed to support the integrated electronics concepts, the project focuses on making the laboratory environment learning oriented rather than teaching oriented in which teaching assistants are replaced with "coaches" that become resource persons to the students working in the laboratory. The expectations in the laboratory are also changed to enhance teamwork skills and to stimulate innovation by the students. In addition to a group of structured laboratory experiments, a set of four milestones has been established. These milestones are open-ended design projects that stimulate integration of fundamental concepts discussed in the lecture part of the course and in the structured part of the laboratory. These milestones include an emphasis on integrating environmental transducers with basic electronic devices and with developing practical design skills. *