How I began to teach Arduino

    I do not conduct training workshops and seminars. I have implemented the study of Arduino in the college curriculum. That is, students come to me to write code in the Processing Wiring language and watch how it executes on the board.
    For a long time I have been working part time at the Ural College of Radio Engineering . He taught various subjects: electronics, radio engineering, P-CAD, transmitters, etc., and recently began to teach students how to work with Arduino. I have a negative attitude to this platform, but I see many advantages in its study within the walls of an educational institution.

    How it all started


    It all began, oddly enough, from the fact that I constantly participated in various exhibitions of educational institutions. These are image events with a dubious effect for attracting applicants. The administrations of educational institutions like to participate in them and, as cannon fodder at the exhibition stands, send young teachers there.
    At one of these exhibitions, participants were invited to organize master classes in addition to the usual exposition. I must say that shortly before that I made a homemade Arduino . Just because he could, without second thoughts. I offered to make a couple of boards, put a table, two laptops and offer visitors to the exhibition to blink LEDs.
    I can’t say that our booth was popular with the public, but the college leadership was delighted. They liked it so much that I was even offered to organize Arduino training in college as part of the provision of additional educational services, and I agreed.
    If you're interested in what DOW is inside
    It looks like this: an educational institution provides basic educational services within the framework of which an educational program is implemented, laboratory tests are held and exams are taken. These services are funded by the state. In addition, the DT can offer DOW. For example, circles, discos, consultations, additional items, etc. Naturally, a separate contract is concluded for the provision of DOW and they are already paid. As part of the provision of DOW, the college may conduct any additional subjects. For example, electronic engineers are taught intellectual property, system administrators are expanding the course of electrical engineering and there can be two or three such subjects every semester. Theoretically, a student can refuse these services, but in practice the majority can be persuaded. I must say that for 1000 rubles / month the acquisition, in the end, is worthy.

    Please note that Arduino is not taught as an alternative to core subjects. We purchased debug boards from DiHalt and students work on them with AVR, PIC and STM.
    Actually, the course itself involved a couple of theoretical and 16 practical exercises. Usually, those who work with Arduino use layouts and assemble the circuit with wires. In the context of mass education, this path is dead end - it is impossible to keep track of so that no one closes anything. To make laboratory work possible, we decided to draw our own shield. In fact, it is a set of LEDs, buttons, variable resistors of a segment indicator and tweeter.
    Since we ordered these shields anyway, Arduino did not buy. We made our version and ordered everything in bulk.
    I have already collected twenty sets, prepared methodological material, a computer class, and now I am conducting practical classes in all. Of course, so far I have only one pilot group in my studies - the 4th year, studying in the specialty Radio Equipment.

    Arduino lesson


    To begin with, I told students what the Arduino platform is. He introduced some projects based on it. He talked about its capabilities and we started a laboratory workshop.

    The laboratory process is quite simple. The training manual provides examples with explanations that students perform. Each task describes in detail what jumpers must be installed and how the circuit will look in this case. They parse and download ready-made code samples and observe the results of its execution. Then they are invited to complete an independent task. At the moment, everyone has the same task, but I will definitely make different options.
    Sample list of practical work
    1. Work with digital outputs
    2. Segment indicator management
    3. Using pulse width modulation
    4. Piezo emitter control
    5. Work with COM port
    6. Work with digital inputs. Using Buttons
    7. ADC application


    In the near future, I plan to come up with many global individual tasks that will affect the work with several peripheral devices at once. For example, on commands from the COM port to play different melodies or write a timer for sports. The most important thing is to find examples of the use of these devices in real life. Make it clear that now the student can really in some form make a color music prefix, a doorbell for a front door or something else. I want to build the entire course based on the fact that at the end the student will need to create some kind of large project.

    What i want to achieve


    In fact, I see many positive effects:
    1. Modern graduates, in general, “know how to learn,” but do not own specific technologies. And this is laid down in educational standards. That is, they can cope with real tasks, but only under the guidance of senior colleagues. I can’t say that Arduino will fix it, but I hope that it helps to push off from something. Lower the threshold for entering a specialty.
    2. Among other things, I lead a circle of technical creativity. Assembling, flashing and checking forty of these motherboards was an interesting task for my guys. I take this opportunity to boast of our workshop:
    3. I look forward to a quantitative increase in the creative projects of our students. We annually hold exhibitions of technical creativity and usually 20-30 projects participate in them. For the 1000 tech students who study with us, this is very small.
    4. At secondary school, Arduino can be used as the basis for graduate design. The task of graduates in the specialty "Radio equipment" is to come up with a scheme and develop the design of any device. Now it’s hard to imagine a device without MK, and the vast majority of it is tight. Therefore, there are two ways out: either the manager writes the program, or a ready-made circuit with firmware is taken. This is generally acceptable, but limits capacity. Therefore, as the brains for their security alarms and combination locks, which they make on diplomas, it is quite possible to use Arduino.


    Where are we now


    Classes have been going on for more than a month and I made a lot of interesting observations for myself.
    For the first time in my life, in pairs, students are delayed after the call, not because I detained them. They are really interested. Students have difficulties with programming, but they do not interfere with their work. One of them, based on the Arduino, has already made a caterpillar platform controlled via Bluetooth from the phone and did not stop there. Now makes an autonomous weather station and uses standard tools for working with microcontrollers.
    When I started work on this project, I asked my students (and other teachers) if they had heard of the existence of Arduino. At that time, only a few could answer my question in the affirmative. I am convinced that working with Arduino can help them in their future work, and even if not, they should at least have an idea about it.

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