Design on Project-Based Learning for Analog Circuits

Abstract

This Work in Progress-Research to practice paper introduces the development of a Project Based Learning course on Analog Circuits. This is a six-credit course of fourteen weeks duration, designed for undergraduate students of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. This paper presents the course structure, project planning and feedback from students. The experience gained by designing and implementing this course will be used to develop improved courses for higher semesters for this batch of students. The overall objective is to help students to design Analog Circuits using discrete electronic components and simple integrated circuits and sensitize them on sustainability goals like power saving by using low power and low-cost components, optimized designs, standard practices and solutions that are useful for society. The Goals, Activities, Products and Assessment (GAPA) for the course are interlinked and logistics planning has been done before the commencement of the semester. The curriculum has been developed to cover the concepts required for developing sustainable products, and the topics discussed involve low power amplifiers, oscillators, wave shaping circuits and filters. The students registered for this course have experienced PBL in their previous semesters and have successfully completed a prerequisite course named Fundamentals of Automation Engineering. They are skilled on using the electronic test and measurement equipment, designing Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and soldering of electronic components on the boards. Although they are granted autonomy in selecting components and circuit design, project goals are identified by the instructor and evaluation weightage assigned consciously to these goals. Activities are conducted during sessions to help students learn the concepts required for the gradually developing the project. Feedback is required from the students to compare the planned goals versus achieved goals and is analyzed for pluses and deltas. It is also used to monitor the motivation of students, to make the course more interesting for intrinsic learning.