The first time on the other side: PhD candidates experience in digital electronics practical sessions and final project

Abstract

[EN] The university Lecturer Training Fellowship granted by the Spanish Ministry of Education implies the participation of the PhD candidates in the practical lessons of subjects related to their specialty. For the first time, two students were assigned to the high performance group in Digital Electronics in the Industrial Electronics and Automation degree, taught in the School of Design Engineering (ETSID) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). Taking advantage of the PhD candidates¿ easiness for comprehending the student¿s point of view, they were allowed to suggest and implement methodological modifications with the aim of improving the knowledge and skill transfer in the subject field. The main result was the development of a methodology which relates the practical and theoretical parts so they are interleaved, making it easier to comprehend, assimilate the concepts, and participate actively in the practical part gaining experience in the field. The subject is divided in three main parts: VHDL, microcontrollers and a final project. One of the PhD students was assigned to the VHDL part, the other one to the microcontroller part, and the final project was collaborative, with both participating in the organization and evaluation. This final project evaluates the innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship transversal skills of the students by entrusting them to develop a microcontroller code and to write the documentation about it, while participating in a car-like robot competition. This year, the competition was presented as a list of requirements the robots must meet before the deadline to access the ¿final test¿, in a way that was first implemented by the successful aerospace company SpaceX for the international Hyperloop Pod Competition series. This makes the deadlines and evaluation items very clear for both students and evaluators while leaving the door open to different ways of implementation using the knowledge acquired through the semester. This paper presents the thought process behind the methodology used during the subject and final project and the results obtained, alongside with the experience reported by both students and PhD intraining candidates.