Digital technology roadmap
Large volume of
production
VHDL & C
Large
Altera/Lattice/Xilinx
FPGA
Systems on
Programmable
Chip (SoPC)
(>100k logic gates)
Altera/Lattice/Xilinx
CPLD and FPGA
(2,5k – 100k logic gates)
Schematics
&
VHDL
The theory basics
and the classic 74
series / CMOS (SSI
& MSI)
Professional
applications in
Telecommunications
Systems and
Telematics
PIC16/18 family
Chapter 3:
Dedicated
processors
of microcontrollers
Application specific
digital systems
(Datapath + control
unit)
Chapter 2:
FSM
Introductory circuits & FSM
Chapter 1:
Combinational
circuits
Chapter 4:
Microcontrollers (µC)
The versatile
GAL22V10
(500 logic gates)
Systems on Chip
(SoC) & ASICS
(GA)
Digital processors and
subsystems
(peripherals)
Digital Circuits & Systems
Advanced optional
subjects or research
1
CSD competencies
Digital systems
and VHDL
Microcontrollers
CAD/EDA,
laboratory
software and
tools
English
Oral and written
communication
Team work
Self-directed
learning
Report edition,
presentation and
publishing
Project
management
ePortfolio edition
2
CSD systematic instructional design
Learning objectives
and cross-curricular
skills
After completing the
course students have
to be able to …
Repeated every term
Course
evaluation
Student
questionnaires,
and instructors
processing
Coherence and
consistency
Continuous formative
and summative
assessment
Activities and
study time
scheduling
In and out of class
timetable, problembased learning,
application project
Method for solving assignments
Active
methodologies
Individual and group assessing, every
work sample counts and can be
improved, group e-portfolio
No need of traditional exams
Cooperative Learning,
integrated learning of
content and competencies,
Learning by doing
3
Learning objectives
Chapter 1
Combinational circuits
Chapter 2
Finite state machines
Chapter 3
Digital processor
Chapter 4
Microcontrollers
#6, #7, #8, #10
#9, #10, #11
#10, #12
#13, #14, #15
Cross-curricular objectives: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
http://epsc.upc.edu/projectes/ed/CSD/index_CSD.html
4
CSD specific content
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Combinational circuits
Finite state machines
Digital processor
Microcontrollers
(FSM)
(OU + CU)
(C)
(23h) – 0.92 ECTS
(23h) – 0.92 ECTS
(69h) – 2.78 ECTS
(34.5 h) – 1.38 ECTS
•Proteus-ISIS
(Labcenter)
•Minilog
•WolframAlpha
•Quartus II (Altera)
•Proteus-VSM (Labcenter)
•ispLEVER Starter (Lattice Semiconductor)
•MPLAB (Microchip)
•ISE (Xilinx)
•HI-TECH C Compiler for
PIC10/12/16 MCUs (Lite
mode) (Microchip)
•IC prog
•VHDL
•ispLEVER Classic
(Lattice Semiconductor)
•ModelSim (Mentor
Graphics), Active HDL
(Aldec)
•Synplicity Synplify
synthesis (Synopsys)
•Classic IC’s
• sPLD GAL22V10
• Programmable logic devices (CPLD and
FPGA) from Altera, Lattice, Xilinx
• PIC 16F family of
microcontrollers
•Training boards (UP2, DE2, Spartan 3AN
Starter Kit, MachXO USB Starter Kit, etc.
• Training boards
PICDEM2+, etc.
5
CSD generic tools
Oral and written
communication
English
Self-directed
learning
•Microsoft Office
•Proofing tools
• Visio
•Web editing tools
•Thunderbird
•Google sites
•CMapTools
•Google translate
•Gantt diagrams
•Etc.
Team work
•Google docs
6
Planning activities and study time inside
and outside the classroom (ECTS)
Weekly study plan
Activities
(~problem solving)
Application
project
Guided learning
Exercises
Individual
assessment
Self-directed
learning
ePortfolio
Problem solving
teamwork session
(2 h)
Guided academic
activities (1 h)
Problem solving
teamwork session at
laboratory (2 h)
11.5 h
per
week
6 ECTS
Student-conducted
teamwork sessions
(>6h)
Extra individual work
A PBL and CL course means training students for master degrees
7
Activities  Design of real world applications
Designed using
PLD/VHDL
Designed using
microcontrollers
8
Course timetable
ELECTRONICS I (E1) - 10-11 Q1 Weekly agenda of activities (main details)
Chapter 1: Combinational circuits
W1
W2
9/9-10
9/14-18
W3
W4
Chapter 2: FSM
W5
W6
Chapter 3: Digital
processor
W7
W8
Chapter 4: Microcontrollers
W9
10/26-30 11/2-6
C1
IM2
EX3
MI-1
IM2
C3
EX4
MI-2
IM3
MI-3
W13
W14
11/9-13
EX5
W15
W16
W17
W18
12/14-18 12/21-22
C5
IM5
EX6
C6
IM6
IM4
AP
AP-P
PO
MI-4
(81 hours of study time)
W19
W20
1/11-15 1/18-25
New Year
C2
W12
Christmas
EX2
IM1
W11
Extra minimums' exam (1 - 5)
EX1
Extra minimums' exam (1-3)
INTRO
W10
MI-5
69 hours of study time)
INTRO: course presentation and formation of the cooperative groups; EX: Exercises; C: correction; IM: improvement
PA: application project; PO: portfolio
MI: individual exam of minimums (unannounced). You need to pass all of them as a necessary condition to pass E1
EX : exercise/problem
C : correction
IM: improvement
AP: project
PO: portfolio
9
Cooperative Learning as the
instructional method
• Positive interdependence
Team members are obliged to rely on one another to achieve their common goal
• Individual accountability
All students in a group are held accountable for doing their share of the work and
for mastery of all of the content to be learned
• Face-to-face promotive interaction
Group members providing one another with feedback, challenging one another’s
conclusions and reasoning, and teaching and encouraging one another
• Appropriate use of collaborative skills
Students are encouraged and helped to develop and practice skills in
communication, leadership, decision-making, conflict management, and other
aspects of effective teamwork
• Regular self-assessment of group functioning
Team members periodically assess what they are doing well as a team and what
10
they need to work on for functioning more effectively in the future
A typical 2-hour group work sessions
Up to 15 minutes
Questions from previous sessions or
exercises
Up to 15 minutes
Introduction of new concepts or materials
(generally, the problem to be designed)
30 minutes
Group work for revising concepts and
planning exercises
Up to 15 minutes
Questions, discussion and general
orientations
30 minutes
Group work for developing exercises
15 minutes
Conclusions and planning the autonomous
session outside the classroom
11
Student assessment
Assessment is not a mechanism for verifying
student knowledge, but an stimulus to guarantee
that (motivated) students will do the group tasks
which lead them to learn the content and skills
Assessment is another learning activity integrated
in the course dynamics  ePortfolio
Every piece of work counts for the final grade
• Final exams are no longer needed
12
Assessment scheme

Very important: rubrics for correcting and fast
feedback
Exercises
+
Includes an oral
presentation and a
written report
Individual
controls
+
6 deliverables
with voluntary
improvement
5 individual
unannounced
exams
Students have to pass all the 5 minimums in
order to pass the course
Examples to
demonstrate crosscurricular skills
development and
reflection
Application
Project
+
e-Portfolio
+ Participation
and attitude
Q  EX  30%  MI  25%  AP  20%  PO 15%  P & A 10%
13
Cooperative group ePortfolio
Table of contents
Semi-structured group portfolio
organised according the subject’s
cross-curricular skills
1. Course, purpose, audience and structure
2. A list of hardware/software tools
3. Work samples and reflection for the cross-curricular skills
1. 3rd language (English)
1. An active reading of a paper or a book unit
2. A written assignment in English
3. Exam solution
2. Team work
1. Learning an electronic design automation (EDA) tool in group
2. An example of a group assignment
3. Oral and written communication
1. A concept prepared to learn the design flow for a digital circuit
2. A peer-reviewed written assignment
3. An oral presentation in class
4. Self-directed learning
1. Example of a project organisation and development
2. Example of a unit or lesson studied autonomously
4. General reflection and conclusions
An excellent way for showing evidences of what have been learned
14
Course evaluation and processing
This quality cycle has
to be repeated every
term
CSD WEB page 
Course
evaluation
Student questionnaires,
and instructors
processing
Learning objectives
and cross-curricular
skills
Coherence and
consistency
Continuous formative
and summative
assessment
Activities and
study time
scheduling
Active
methodologies
The aim is to prepare a plan with specific actions to improve teaching in upcoming
courses (problems redesigning, timetable scheduling, workload, teaching materials,
new software, demonstration exercises, etc.)
15