The textbook in this course (The Quintessential PIC Microcontroller, Sid Katzen) is used as a reference with the principle course material being taken from online PPT slides and datasheets. The online PPT slides are aimed at synchronizing lectures to the lab exercises and NOT to the textbook. As such, I will refer to the textbook less often than what you would find in a course where the lectures are synchronized to a particular textbook. However, I will refer to programs and problems in the textbook occassionally, and you will find more detailed explanations of certain concepts in the textbook than what is available in either the online PPT slides or datasheets. It is always a good idea to have multiple perspectives on concepts, and the textbook provides the 4th perspective aside from the online PPT slides, datasheets, and lab experience.
My goal is to keep the lecture and lab synchronized as closely as possible. In reality, this means that the material for a particular lab will be covered the week before the lab is performed.
Both student and instructor share responsibility in terms of achieving the learning objectives for this course. If there is a failure in learning, try to determine where the failure is occuring - this is what any good engineer would do in debugging a problem. Is it the student or the instructor that is failing to meet his/her responsibilties? Or is it perhaps a combination of the two? As a student, the first step is to TALK to your instructor if there is a problem. Without communication, it is a guarantee that the problem will not be solved. As an instructor, I am always happy to have students see me about class-related problems - this means that they are interested in removing whatever hurdles are keeping them from reaching the class learning objectives.
Instructor Responsibilites
a. Answer questions! Do not stop explaining until understanding is reached. Do it either inside of class or outside of class, whatever it takes. Always be prepared to listen.
b. Provide guidance as to where additional information on topics can be found.
c. Provide motivation for course topics (why in the heck are we asking the students to learn this material???).
d. Grade homeworks/quizzes in a reasonable time; assign meaningful homework problems that relate to what will be on quizzes.
e. Be prepared for class. Have online notes posted that clearly explain the concepts that will be covered in the class for the day or week.
Student Responsibilites
a. Ask questions! BE CURIOUS!!!! This is one of the most important aspects of an engineer - if you are not curious, then do not be an engineer. If you are simply after money, be an investment broker, speculate in real estate, win a lottery, etc.
b. Investigate alternate data sources other than the professor.
c. Understand the relevance of what you are being asked to learn - after all, you will be expected to perform as a real engineer in a short period of time and you need to understand how to apply this knowledge!
d. Do the homework! If you don't do the homework, then don't be surprised if you do poorly on tests. See the instructor for help during office hours if you have questions on the homework.
e. Study! Read the notes covered by the instructor, ask questions if they are unclear. If you don't study, then you cannot do well on the tests. Doing well in a class is directly proportional to the effort put into studying for tests, and performing the homework/lab exercises.
What students find difficult in this course is the amount of material covered, and the pace of the coverage, not the difficulty of any one particular topic. The course concepts build on each other, so failure to understand topic 'A' means that you will not understand topic 'B' that is built on 'A'. New topics are introduced each lecture. You must keep up with the course content on a weekly basis. This means reading the material that will be covered in class BEFORE class, understanding and asking questions during the lecture, and peforming the homework when it is assigned.
If you find yourself 4 weeks into the course, and completely lost (i.e, "I have not understood anything for the last 4 weeks"), then drop the course. It is a simple as that - if you are lost at that point, understanding will not come later.
You can become completely lost by not keeping up with the material, by not doing homework, by not asking questions during lecture or office hours. Keep to your student responsiblities, and you will avoid this problem!