Title :
A case study in the development of multi-media educational material: the VHDL interactive tutorial
Author :
Taylor, T.C. ; Aylor, J.H. ; Klenke, Robert H. ; Madisetti, Vijay K. ; Carter, H.W.
fDate :
11/1/1997 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
While industry and academia have been aware of the need for an intensive study of embedded digital system design, resource constraints, fuzzy objectives, and short-time horizon have handicapped progress. The $150M Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors (RASSP) program is a major DARPA/Tri-Service effort designed to overcome these limitations. This effort has developed a number of new technologies that will lead to dramatically shorter prototyping times and reduced life cycle costs. In a effort to ensure the successful transfer of these new technologies, the RASSP Education and Facilitation (RASSP E&F) program is working to transfer this technology into graduate and undergraduate curricula by developing and transferring educational material. Only by successfully inserting these rapid-prototyping technologies into the curricula and research activities of the university community will the long term benefits of these technologies be realized. To achieve this technology transfer objective, the RASSP E&F program has developed educational material on the key elements of rapid-prototyping of embedded digital systems technology. The result of this effort is a set of educational “modules” covering selected topics. In conjunction with IEEE, several of the modules developed by the RASSP E&F program designed to teach students the VHDL language were converted to HTML and linked with the VHDL language reference manual to form a self-paced VHDL interactive tutorial. A demonstration version of this learning tool, currently published by IEEE, is presented
Keywords :
computer aided instruction; computer science education; digital systems; educational courses; embedded systems; hardware description languages; interactive systems; multimedia computing; technology transfer; DARPA/Tri-Service effort; RASSP Education and Facilitation program; Rapid Prototyping of Application Specific Signal Processors; VHDL interactive tutorial; VHDL language; annotated slides; educational material development; educational material transfer; embedded digital system design; fuzzy objectives; graduate curricula; homework problems; instructor´s notes; laboratory exercises; lecture material; multi-media educational material; reduced life cycle costs; research activities; resource constraints; short prototyping times; short-time horizon; technology transfer; undergraduate curricula; Costs; Digital systems; Educational programs; Educational technology; Fuzzy systems; Prototypes; Signal design; Signal processing; Technology transfer; Tutorial;
Journal_Title :
Education, IEEE Transactions on