Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are gaining traction with university students and professors, especially in countries where equivalent academic programs may not be available. The resources available from online courses are not only being utilized by individual students and faculty honing their skills but also by entire university classrooms.

Such is proving to be the case with “Embedded Systems – Shape the world,” the original microcontroller (MCU) hardware-based MOOC that utilizes TI’s TM4C MCU LaunchPad in its lab exercises. Participants are able to create their own mini-lab at home, using the MCU to learn how to build embedded plus analog systems.

Hosted on edX, the MOOC was developed by professors Jonathan Valvano and Ramesh Yerraballi at The University of Texas at Austin and has now completed a second year, educating over 70,000 participants. Updated this year to include Finite State Machines, how-to’s on data sheets and debug, and an additional chapter on wireless communication and the Internet of Things (IoT).  It mirrors content from their second semester freshman class, EE319K, “Intro to Embedded Systems,” with lab exercises derived from UT Austin's embedded systems lab.

Using the C-programming language, participants are guided on general principles and practical tips for building circuits and programming the MCU. Class members acquire debugging skills using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers and software instrumentation. By the end of the course, students have gathered the knowledge to simulate and then build their own designs from the ground up.

“The MOOC represents a high-quality, low-cost avenue to gain new skills anywhere in the world,” said Dr. Valvano, adding that “it breaks down the difficulty of what engineers do.”

Universities adopt MOOC content

Professors can leverage the UT Austin MOOC content to make their curriculum more hands-on, as evidenced by the University of Brasilia, where 50 students are taking the online course as part of their embedded systems class. Using a flipped-classroom method, the students do as much work as possible before class by studying at home via the MOOC, watching videos and written course materials.

The live class at the University of Brasilia starts with a brief discussion, then students work on the lab assignment using the TM4C MCU, with the help of a professor or teaching assistant (TA). When students finish the lab, they present their results.

When asked about student perception of the course, Professor Adson Ferreira da Roca of the University of Brasilia explained that many students feel they can learn at home more effectively, watching or reading the MOOC lessons multiple times at their own pace. In class, they can be more productive, developing hardware and software under supervision.

Engineering students at UT Austin utilize the content in much the same way. While they don’t obtain credit for the MOOC, they also have access to the course videos, web pages and electronic graders to automatically provide lab results and enhance their learning experience.

That the hardware-based MOOC is finding its way into university programs isn’t surprising to Dr. Valvano, given the shift that is occurring in how students learn.

“I call this the Wikipedia generation,” Valvano said. “They need to see the value of what they are learning much quicker. They don’t read as much anymore – certainly not textbooks. They take more ownership in the learning process, going online to search for the resources they need.”

He explained that MOOCs and other online approaches are good ways for faculty to cope with today’s self-directed student, providing them with a more open-ended learning option.

“The role of the university today is to team with students,” he said, helping them to sort through the expansive amount of incorrect information on the internet to get to accurate information that will aid them in their learning process.

More about MOOCs and our classroom involvement:

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