Selected Publications
Peter Athanas and Cameron Patterson, "A Hollistic Approach Towards a Unified CpE Laboratory Platform", Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Microelectronic Systems Education, MSE 2007, San Diego, CA, Jun 2007.
Abstract:
At the beginning of the 2006-2007 academic year, the Virginia Tech Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering deployed an instructional plan that focused on unifying most of the Computer Engineering undergraduate laboratories. In this plan, the undergraduate computer engineering courses that had a laboratory component were restructured so that instead of being independently designed and operated, they would have a common foundation -- a common laboratory hardware platform satisfying the needs of all of the instructional exercises. This plan offers many advantages related course continuity, exercise quality, and most importantly, laboratory management and logistics. Even though the focus of this renovation plan was on the CpE program, all ~1000 undergraduates in the Virginia Tech ECE program are affected since the courses addressed in the plan are part of the common core shared among EE and CpE students. The plan shifts some of the burden of laboratory maintenance traditionally borne by the department onto the students by requiring each student to purchase a commodity high-performance FPGA-based single-board computer. Course instructors provide a flash image to the students that personalizes the board for the activities of a given course. While the plan is riddled with a number of logistical surprises, it offers several advantages that far outweigh the administrative costs. This paper provides a brief overview of the underlying motivations, logistics, and lessons learned involved in the deployment of this plan.
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