Fully Remote Project-Based Learning of Hardware/Software Codesign

Abstract

This Innovative Practice Category Work-In-Progress paper describes the innovative way in which a course on hardware/software codesign was conducted fully online during a near-lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A novel remote lab setup was established in a very limited time, which was used to ensure that students were able to achieve hands-on experience through a project in spite of the course being taught fully online. Students could run the development environment on their own computers and needed to access the online lab setup only for running their program on the actual hardware, which was connected to a light server with the serial and programming ports forwarded over the internet. Lab exercises were modified appropriately to fit the constraints imposed by the remote setup while not compromising on the rigor and desirable course learning outcomes. A wiki-based platform was used for the dissemination of information, scaffolding, collaboration, as well as booking of slots to access the remote lab setup. Zoom video conferencing tool was used for consultations as well as evaluations. The results are encouraging, with students satisfied with the experience gained, without having to compromise on practical knowledge. This opens up the potential to implement such remote lab-based hands-on projects in MOOCs and continuing education scenarios to enhance student learning.