An Experiment of Using Portable Lab in Improving Learning Effectiveness in an MCU Course

In the past, microcontroller (MCU) is taught as two separate courses: a lecture course and a lab course. Due to the lab course schedule, lab experiments often cannot synchronize with lectures. We proposed the portable lab teaching method to integrate the lectures and lab experiments in the same MCU course. Students listen to the lecture and perform the corresponding experiments in the class time. The lab experiments performed in the class time are for students to verify the concepts and algorithms taught in the lecture. In addition, students are also required to perform after-the-class lab assignments on their own which require them to apply their innovative thinking. After two years of experiment, we evaluate the impact on student learning and performance of this approach. The result shows that student learning is improved significantly using this approach compared to the traditional approach.