Semester Level Research Articles

An Approach for Attainment of Relevant Program Outcomes through Microcontroller Laboratory Course

Embedded product design has emerged as an important area of study in the curriculum for undergraduate program in Computer Science. This necessitates the inclusion of hardware courses like Digital Electronics, Computer Organization and Microcontrollers as pre-requisite courses, in the lower semesters. This helps students to develop keen interest, skill and proficiency in the area of Embedded system design. This also helps them to compete with peers from other engineering branches in the domain of Embedded Systems. Here we present a set of activities, their related outcome based assessment techniques and outcome based strategies applied to the laboratory course on 8051 Microcontroller laboratory in Computer Science&Engineering at the IV Semester level. This laboratory was an extension of the hands on experience the students had in the course on Digital Electronics in the III Semester. The laboratory course on 8051 Microcontrollers was based on the usage of 8051 compatible Atmel 89C51ED2. The course was designed to consist of initially, conducting simple programming exercises using 8051 assembly language and then simple interfacing exercises using Embedded C programming. Later when they developed some proficiency and familiarity in 8051 environment student' teams were made to work on course projects which required them to design and build projects using 8051 or any other microcontroller of their choice. This promoted their self-learning, improved their knowledge of programming the microcontroller to interface with the outside world to develop useful applications and provide solutions to some common problems in society. This activity resulted in enhanced motivational levels amongst students, increased their involvement in the team and improved their knowledge due to self learning.

"Product Development" - a New Learning in Open Ended Experiment

Nowadays many educational institutions are adopting outcome based education system, wherein active participation and learning of students is involved. This paper reports OBE based learning experience as a part of laboratory experiments in the field of analog electronics at 3rd semester. Theory of analog electronic circuits will be well understood only if students conduct series of experiments from simple to complex circuits using various analog components. Also, if students are taught to develop small products at primitive level, it will help them to carry projects till product realization in higher semesters. This motivated us to keep product development exercise as a part of open ended category along with generating a datasheet for the said product, which requires active learning and involvement of the students throughout the development life cycle of a product. This paper presents the experiential learning in developing 5V power supply as a part of open ended experiment. This helped students not only to understand the product design cycle and also helped to improve their circuit debugging skills as well as in designing PCB's along with generating data sheet for a given specifications at 3 rd semester level.

Model Based Learning of Linear Integrated Circuit Course: A Practical Approach

Transmission of knowledge present in the information by teachers does not guarantee an effective understanding of the student in a large class room which has been a greatest challenge. Linear integrated circuit (LIC) is analysis of solid state analog and digital devices which is characterized by infinite and finite number of possible operating states respectively. Integrated circuits play an important role in electronics. As a felicitator we have to strengthen the theoretical concepts by providing the platform for the students to model, analyze and design various applications using integrated circuits. At undergraduate level, for a large class room it is a great challenge to impart this knowledge. In this paper an activity is discussed which enhances the interest of the students towards the course and depth of gaining knowledge. An effective activity called self study component was introduced at the 4th semester level for developing the model to cater real time signal acquiring and monitoring the physical parameters. This course encouraged us to develop undergraduate level activity with the applications of data acquisition models. Findings showed that there was a significant positive difference in student's academic achievement and attitude towards learning the subject through the activity.

Attainment of "Project Management and Finance" Graduate Attribute (GA) for Post Graduate Program in Engineering through Course Project

The National Board of Accreditation (NBA) in India has specified specific graduate attributes for post graduate program in engineering. In B V B College of Engineering & Technology, Hubballi, the Production PG program has made an attempt to design and conduct the course project from last two academic years in the core course Project Management at 1st semester level, which has been designed to address the graduate attribute 7 related to Project and Finance. Based on this the program outcome for our PG program is defined as Ability to carry feasibility study and evaluate projects considering economical and financial factors. Keeping this outcome in mind, the course project has been conducted addressing feasibility study, economical and financial factors as mentioned in attribute 7. The students were made to work on this course project for the duration of 12 weeks, which included activities like industrial visit, literature review, preliminary study, feasibility study, facets analysis, report submission and oral presentation. The evaluation process for this course project was rubrics based consisting of two different outcome elements and related performance indicators to address particularly the graduate attribute-7. The work carried out by the students focuses completely on the analysis of facets of projects from marketing analysis to ecological analysis. The conduct of course project in the core course like project management really differentiates the learning of post graduate level to that of undergraduate level as more work is being carried on the analysis part during the process of course project. The percentage attainment of each outcome element addressing the attribute-7 for both the academic years i.e 2013-14 and 2014-15 has been compared.

Fostering pre-service teachers’ views about nature of science: evaluation of a new STEM curriculum

Background: An elaborated understanding of Nature of Science (NOS) is seen as an important part of scientific literacy. In order to enable teachers to adequately discuss NOS in their lessons, various approaches have recently been employed to improve teachers’ understanding of NOS.Purpose: This study investigated the effect of participating in a newly developed Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) on pre-service teachers’ NOS views.Program description: In the new STEM curriculum, two versions of explicitly teaching NOS, which are discussed in the literature, have been adopted: the pre-service teachers explicitly reflect upon nature and history of science (version one) as well as conduct own scientific investigations (version two).Sample: N = 76 pre-service teachers from different semester levels (cross-sectional study) who participated in the new STEM curriculum took part in this study (intervention group). As control groups, students who did not partake in the new curriculum participated (pre-service primary (N = 134), science (N = 198), and no-science (N = 161) teachers).Design and methods: In order to allow an economic assessment, a testing instrument with closed-item formats was developed to assess the respondents’ views about six NOS aspects.Results: The intervention group shows significantly more elaborated NOS views than a relevant control group (p < .01, g = .48). Additionally, a one-way ANOVA reveals a positive effect of semester level on NOS views for the intervention group (p < .01; η² = .16) but not for the control groups.Conclusion: The findings support evidence suggesting that explicit approaches are effective when fostering an informed understanding of NOS. More specifically, a sequence of both versions of explicitly teaching NOS discussed in the literature seems to be a way to successfully promote pre-service teachers’ NOS understanding.

An Institute Interaction with EMC Corporation for Enhanced Learning of Storage Area Network Course

Information storage is a central pillar of information technology. To enhance student awareness about Information Storage Technology, Storage Area Network (SAN) course was introduced for undergraduate students at VII semester level in Information Science & Engineering curricula. SAN deals with storing, managing, and protecting Digital Information in Classic, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments. EMC's open curriculum, aimed at addressing the knowledge gap that exists in the IT industry in the area of information storage and emerging technologies. The Storage Area Network (SAN)/Information Storage and Management (ISM) course proposed by EMC Academic Alliance is designed and developed to enable students to achieve a comprehensive understanding of all the segments of storage technology. Here SAN course was designed by considering EMC Academic Alliance course contents and framed Course Learning Objectives. Course activity was dedicated for the study and presentation of white papers on EMC products related to the concepts which they have studied. Industry visit to EMC Corporation was organized to gain knowledge about current storage technologies and how storage concepts are implemented in Data Center. At the end of the course, an EMC Proven Professional Certification online exam was conducted in our college. Through this course we have mapped some of the program outcomes with ABET criteria.

Study Abroad: When, How Long, and With What Results? New Data From the Russian Front

Abstract: This study reports on the measured proficiency‐referenced learning outcomes during study abroad of a large, multi‐institutional cohort (N=1,881) of U.S. students of Russian who have undertaken intensive language study on ACTR‐administered formal language study programs at Russian universities for periods of 2, 4, and 9 months over the course of the past 15 years. The study specifically examines the effects of different durations of immersion on learning outcomes across skills, as well as potential effects of age, gender, knowledge of other foreign languages, levels of control of language structure, years of formal study, and the interaction of gains across different skills. Attention is also devoted to the role of initial (pre‐program) levels of proficiency in the prediction of ultimate outcomes from study abroad terms of different durations. Results indicate that second language (L2) gain across skills is strongly correlated with longer‐duration immersion programming, including systematically documented outcomes at the Superior and Distinguished Levels (ILR 3, 3+, and 4) in the case of the yearlong overseas Flagship program, now in its sixth year. The present study replicates results of an earlier ACTR/NFLC “Predictors” study (Brecht, Davidson, &amp; Ginsberg, 1995) that structural control and pre‐program reading comprehension are correlated positively with L2 gain at the semester level while demonstrating similar effects for academic year program outcomes as well. In addition, a strong correlation of pre‐program listening proficiency and post‐program speaking gain was noted at the advanced levels and above. By contrast, age, gender, and years of formal study were not correlated with overseas L2 gain at the advanced level and above.

The Effect of Simulation Learning on Critical Thinking and Self-confidence When Incorporated Into an Electrocardiogram Nursing Course

Background The purpose of this comparative research study was to demonstrate the effect of simulation activities on critical thinking and self-confidence in an electrocardiogram nursing course. Method The treatment group ( n = 70) received weekly simulation exposure in addition to lecture (500 minutes combined total), and the control group ( n = 70) received weekly lecture (400 minutes total didactic instruction). Results Critical thinking and self-confidence measures showed no significant differences between the groups, except when controlled by semester level. The second-semester senior students scored significantly higher in both critical thinking and self-confidence measures. A pre- and postsimulation measure of self-confidence demonstrated statistically significant improvement following simulation. Conclusions Higher critical thinking scores were significantly related to higher self-confidence ratings, as was student employment on a telemetry unit.

Assessment of Knowledge of Students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences about Viral Hepatitis Infections and Related Factors

The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences about VHI and it's related factors. This cross sectional study was performed on 356 students of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. The subjects were selected using stratified random sampling. The data collected using structured questionnaire. Maximum score of knowledge was 100. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 13 software using descriptive and analytical (ANOVA, Independent T, Spearman correlation coefficient and chi square tests) statistics. The mean of total score of students were 40.2±18.2. The mean of knowledge score about hepatitis A and E (32.8±22.7), hepatitis B, C and D (47±18.6), about symptoms and treatment (32.1±13.5) and about prevention from these infections was 58±27.3. There was statistically significant relationship between knowledge of students and average, field, semester and graduate level (p<0.05). The knowledge of student about prevention of hepatitis infections was more than other aspects of disease such as symptoms, treatment and transmission, so teaching about treatment and symptoms of these infections to diagnosis is too important. The students of health course should be educated about VHI more than others students and educational program should be performed with respect to variables that were related to awareness of students.

Nursing Students' Opinions on Interpersonal Violence

This study examines the opinions of professional nursing students toward interpersonal violence and compares their responses to published expert opinion. The subjects included all nursing students enrolled in a selected associate degree program. A questionnaire, consisting of 23 opinion statements and coded to the subject's semester level, was prepared and distributed by the nursing faculty. Using a four point Likert scale, the subjects indicated their intensity of agreement to these statements. Also included were two open-ended questions regarding tie cause and prevention of violence and several inquires of demographic relevance. Frequency distributions were applied to all the responses with further statistical analysis of specific variables done through one-way analysis of variance, T-test, and correlation studies. The results showed a remarkable congruency of student opinion although the variables of ethnicity, previous work experience, being a parent, having a college degree, and age were associated with certain opinion choices. This study suggests that contemporary students enter nursing programs with appreciable educational and work related experiences and at a sophisticated level in regard to cognizance about sociological issues. The author suggests that nursing educators not only make curricular revisions in theory content and its clinical application but also in teaching methodology.

Turks in the FRG and Their German-Language Literature as Basis for a Fourth-Semester German Course

Die verwirr mal nicht. Educators seeking to imbue their German language courses with up-todate and culturally relevant material--particularly material about the Turkish minority in the FRGare likely to be confused about how to undertake such a task. In courses at the third and fourth semester level, the objective of the teacher is to broaden students' mastery of German. Traditionally, these courses have tended to rely on such timeless or universal issues as human relation-

Microcomputer Education in India

After discussing various aspects of microcomputer education, the author suggests two courses on microcomputers: 1) an introductory course at the third year, second semester level, and 2) a Microprocessor System Design course at the fourth year, first or second semester level (Institute elective) of the five-year B.Tech. degree program at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. The author emphasizes that hands-on experience is a must for the microcomputer courses and suggests a typical laboratory setup.

"Explication de Texte" at the Fourth Semester Level

"Explication de Texte" at the Fourth Semester Level