Microcontroller engineering themed teaching

This case study has been developed from data gathered through observations of the teaching component, interviews with the tutor and a student focus group. The approach to teaching microcontroller engineering described here is distinctive because it has been conceived as a coherent theme spanning four modules over two years rather than a series of linked but essentially independent modules. The lecturer in charge set some aims for where he wanted students to be at the end of year two and designed the theme to lead up to these. The aims were that the students should be able to design a small embedded system with control, actuation and communication functions; they should be able to program it using relevant tools; and this system should stand up to scrutiny from the School's Industrial Advisory Group as being something of relevance to industry.