Hardware Skills for Hardware Engineers

Abstract

Electrical engineering students at the University of Waterloo require opportunities to develop hardware workflow skills. For example, creating, populating, and debugging printed circuit boards. Students may be fortunate enough to gain these skills on co-op work terms, but there is no structured on-campus opportunity to learn these topics. These workflows cannot be added to the existing curriculum without displacing other valuable learning opportunities. An optional “Embedded μC PCB Activity” is being developed to fill this gap. The Kolb learning cycle and project-based learning principles have been applied in its creation, and the Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation is used as a framework to assess student reaction and learning. The activity was first trialled and found unsuccessful in 2017 but is now prepared to undergo another trial due to iterative improvement.