Abstract:

In the past years, the demand for university education decreased, mainly due to demographic factors. This trend, combined with the increase in the breadth of diversity of the educational offers, has caused an increase in competition within the higher education sector in the western european countries. Competition is happening to attract new students. Moreover, these universities must deal with a drastic reduction in public funds available for financing their activities. This increases the competitiveness between the universities. As informaction and communication technologies continue to change the world the man lives and operates in, higher education must also change and integrate educational technologies that facilitates international higher education.

Nowadays, the training of electrical engineers in the field of telecommunications, electronics and computer science in the universities is a great challenge because it requires practical skills to develop the ability of students to apply acquired knowledge in solving specific problems. An important aspect in the effective training process for engineers is applying different methods for active learning. This is achieved by performing laboratory exercises. Modelling and simulations with FPGA of specific tasks allow engineers to solve practical problems and to understand the studied processes. Laboratory experiments apply the research approach into the educational process.

Based on the experience of other European universities where digital electronics is studied, in the University of Ruse a laboratory board based on Spartan-6 devices was created. The board is used in the educational process in the courses “Pulse and Digital Devices” and “Digital Circuits” introducing the students of the specialties “Electronics”, “Computer Control and Automation”, “Internet and Mobile Communications”, “Information and Communication Technologies” and “Computer Systems and Technologies” to the main topics in digital electronics. In the courses, different combinational circuits are studied. One of the topics covered in the courses is designing decoders of the decimal digits presented in any binary-decimal code.

During the last years, teaching at the universities has been changing. The student is not a passive recipient but an active searcher in the process of knowledge building and application of knowledge and skills. In the past years, many researchers worked in the field of active learning. Active learning is achieved by any method of teaching which actively involves students into the process of learning.

For better understanding the material studied by the students, active learning methods are applied. During the practical exercises each student has to solve problems in an individual assignment, including:
1) synthesis of a given decoder of the decimal digits presented in BCD codes with logic gates (AND, OR and NOT) and simulating its operation in Logisim (or other software products, MicroCAP, Multisim, etc.);
2) implementation of the decoder (based on the schematic presentation in ISE Project Navigator) and testing it on the laboratory board.

The results confirm the benefits of the active learning methods:
1) they develop collaborative skills;
2) they encourage risk taking;
3) they require student preparation;
4) they increase engagement;
5) they improve critical thinking;
6) they increase retention;
7) they make tech more powerful;
8) they spark creative thinking;
9) they foster real problem solving.

Keywords:

Teaching and learning, digital electronics, decoder synthesis and analysis, Logisim, FPGAs, Xilinx.