This is the document
summarizing my pedagogic activity, most of which was done
at the University of The Algarve. To switch to the
document showing my full academic activity, click here. The document is
written in English in order to increase the number of
people that can read it.
The noticeable feature of the pedagogic activity that
immediately sticks out is the multi-disciplinarity. This I
consider a strong point. In modern academic society, the
tendency is to have many cooperations and people from
various backgrounds to join forces to attack a challenge.
In recent times, it no longer serves to be an expert in
one area. One has to be able to communicate with many
other areas.
In fact, my entire academic life is an example of such
multi-disciplinarity. While having a specialization in
Physics of Semiconductors (PhD Physics, Amsterdam 1994), I
am now working in the department of Electronics and
Informatics where I study electronic materials by
electrical techniques and have given lectures of
disciplines covering three scientific areas, namely
Physics, Electronics and Informatics. The picture on the
right shows how these three areas were represented in the
lectures given by me.
In what follows, the disciplines are analyzed in more
detail (with the exception of Electronics I and
Electronics III, for which I was never the responsible
professor)
The highlight for 2012 is
working on a book about the lectures of Electronic
Instrumentation. This is a work in progress that is
expected to be finished in summer of 2012 and will have
about 300 pages.
All the documents
presented here were written by me
For each of the disciplines for which I was responsible I wrote
lectures notes (Sebenta).
In order to save paper, the documents (sebentas, exercises, exams, etc. ca. 250 MB) related to the lectures are only
available on the accompanying CD or on the internet. Where indicated, clicking on the associated icons will open
documents in the formats of PDF and Zip . Public domain versions of Acrobat Reader
(pdf) and WinZip are available at http://www.download.com
Peter Stallinga, Faro, August 2011.
2. Teaching load
Schedule of lectures given by P.S. at UAlg
Semester
Disciplines
lectured (1)(2)
hours
students
(3)
1989-1990
ExpPhys,: Experimental
Physics Labs (University of Amsterdam)
12
16
1999-2000, 2nd semester
INS: Instrumentation (Instrumentação): 2xP
EL2: Electronics II (Electrónica
II): 2xP
12
34
19
2000-2001, 1st semester
EL1: Electronics I (Electrónica I): 1xTP
EL3: Electronics III (Electrónica
III): 2xP, 1xTP
9
25
2000-2001, 2nd semester
IC: Introduction to
Computing (Introdução à
Computação): 2xP
EL2: Electronics II (Electrónica
II): 2xP
12
35
2001-2002, 1st semester
EL3: Electronics III (Electrónica III): 1xP
P1: Programming I (Programação
I): 1xP
6
23
2001-2002, 2nd semester
IC: Introduction to Computing
(Introdução à Computação): 4xT, 1xP
E2: Electronics II (Electrónica
II): 1xP
10
177 9
2002-2003, 1st semester
EL3: Electronics III (Electrónica III): 2xP
P1: Programming 1
(Progamação 1):
1xT Final year project
9.5
21
101
2
2002-2003, 2nd semester
IC: Introduction to Computing
(Introdução à Computação):
2xT FCE: Physics of
Electronic Components (Fundamentos de Componentes Electrónicos):
2xT, 1xP Final year project
5.5
142
9
2
2003-2004, 1st semester
PI: Imperative Programming
(Programação Imperativa):
2xT, 1xP
E2: Electronics II (Electrónica
II): 1xP
Estagio: students of Informatics Teaching in Odemira
(Alentejo)
9
74 5 2
2003-2004, 2nd semester
IC: Introduction to Computing
(Introdução à Computação):
2xT, 2xP Estagio: students of Informatics Teaching in
Odemira (Alentejo)
E2: Electronics II (Electrónica II): 2xT,
1xP, 1xTP
IALP: Introduction to laboratory and programming (Introdução à Actividade
Laboratorial e à Programação): 2xP
INS: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica): 2xT, 1xP,
1xTP
73
55
106
8
57
20
2010-2011, block 1/4
2010-2011, block 2/4
2010-2011, block 4/4
IALP: Introduction to
laboratory and programming (Introdução à Actividade Laboratorial e à
Programação): 2xP
INS: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica): 2xT, 2xP,
1xTP, 1xOT
E2: Electronics II
(Electrónica II):
2xT, 1xP, 2xTP, 2xOT
48
83
80
30
15
24
2011-2012, block 1/4
2011-2012, block 2/4
IALP: Introduction to laboratory
and programming (Introdução à Actividade Laboratorial e à
Programação): 2xT, 2xTP, 2xP
INS: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica): 2xT, 2xP,
1xTP, 1xOT
104
83
19
20
2012-2013, 1st sem.
ILE, Introduction to Electronic
Laboratory (Introdução ao Laboratório de
Electrónica)
IE: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica)
CE: Electronic Complements (Complementos de
Electrónica)
2012-2013, 2nd sem.
Control & Instrumentation for
MERGE 3 final year projects (licenciatura) 1 master thesis
2013-2014, 1st sem.
ILE, Introduction to Electronic
Laboratory (Introdução ao Laboratório de
Electrónica)
IE: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica)
CE: Electronic Complements (Complementos de
Electrónica)
2013-2014, 2nd sem.
sabbatical leave
2014-2015, 1st sem.
sabbatical leave
2014-2015, 2nd sem.
SRT: Telecommunications Network Systems
(Sistemas de Redes de Telecomunicações)
IE: Electronic
Instrumentation (Instrumentação Electrónica)
(1) bold:
responsibility for the discipline
(2) T = 1 hour theory, P = 3 hours practical, TP = 1.5 hours
exercises
(3) italics: number of
students in groups of P.S.
3.
Disciplines
3a1 IALP
In 2011 an unprecedented discipline was attributed to me, namely
IALP, introduction to laboratory activity and programming. This is a
remarkable discipline since it does not come with a clear aim but
'to motivate the students and welcome them to our department' and is
therefore clearly a discipline that is in the realm of a Full
Professor (Professor Catedrático), a professor that is the 'face'
and the 'engine' of the department. As such it is the most
prestigious discipline given by me so far and an honor to see that,
apparently, my colleagues evaluate me already as Full Professor
(they repeatedly mentioned and voted me as the most suitable
lecturer for this discipline).
The challenge is even
bigger given the fact that there is no money whatsoever available,
so everything is done at near zero-cost. Moreover, also no
assistants were attributed to the discipline. Even so, with some
private injection of money, some interesting experiments were
designed.
The theoretical
lectures have 12 subjects, given as power point presentations.
They represent all the topics of our department, more
specifically, the course of Electronic Engineering:
The game of Diplomacy (to train people to work with e-mail,
internet and to enhance the social structure between the
students)
Physics. Starting from the Big Bang theory to Electronics
Electronics
Mathematics (complex numbers)
Engineering example: GPS
Telecommunications
Control
Signal Processing
Informatics (Operating Systems)
Instrumentation
Science
The exercises consist of programming in Octave (a free MATLAB
clone). It is not intended to teach the students all the basics of
programming (variables, procedures, etc.), but rather teaches them
how to quickly get results, how to use their computer as a valuable
tool for their engineering studies. As an example, it is shown how Wolfram Alpha, an internet
service, can provide very quick results for many mathematical and
engineering problems.
For the practical part, 8 works are designed:
Electronic
Components
Analog
Electronics
Digital
Electronics
Cryptography
Bar Codes
3D Images
Wavelength
Algorithms
Copies of the
labscripts can be found on the CD. The exercises will be light
programming in MatLab, although the material is not fully prepared
yet at this stage. The theoretical lectures will consist of an
overview of the aspects of the entire course (MIEET, Electronics
and Telecommunications). Yet, also this is not yet fully ready
yet. When you read this, it may already be ready. (Check the
on-line version of the CD).
Because of this restructuring of the lectures, the success rate
rose sharply from previous years. In this my first year, 18
students were evaluated, of which 17 passed. The 18th was a
repeating student that dis not attend the lectures and was
therefore (probably) not aware of the changes, although all
lecture materials were always available on-line in the Tutoria
Electronica.
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2011-2012
19
1
18
17
94%
Introduction to Laboratory Activity and
Programming
Introdução à Actividade Laboratorial e à Programação
Lecture structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical lectures
2x1
hour
per week
16 lectures
TP
Exercises
2x1.5
hours
per week
16 lectures
P
Practical lectures
1x3 hours per week
8
lectures
Description
and
Calendarization
Non existent
Lecture documents
Lecture Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams and
homeworks
N/A
3a2 ILE
In 2012, IALP (See above) was removed from the course. It was
replaced with ILE, Introduction to Electronic Laboratory. It is
based on IALP, without the programming (TP) lectures.
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2012-2013
7
3
4
1
25%
2013-2014
6
2
4
1
25%
Introduction to Electronic Laboratory
Introdução ao Laboratória de Electrónica
Lecture structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical lectures
15x1
hour
per week
15 lectures
TP
Exercises
N/A
P
Practical lectures
8x3 hours per week
8
lectures
Description
and
Calendarization
Non existent
Lecture documents
Lecture Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams and
homeworks
N/A
3b. Electronics II
This discipline was given to the
students of LESI (Licenciatura
em Engenharia de Sistemas e Informática). In the
preceding lectures of Electronics I, the students learn how the
basic components of electronics work from an electronics point
of view. In the Electronics II it is assumed that the students
know how to calculate the gain of simple amplifiers based on
bipolar and field-effect transistors. In Electronics II, more
complex issues of electronics are treated:
Differential pair.
An essential element in electronics for (tele)communications
is the differential amplifier. Ideally, the amplifier
amplifies a differential signal at the input, while it totally
attenuates signals arriving in phase at the two entrances. In
other words, the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), the ratio
of differential gain and common gain is infinite. A simple
differential amplifier is the differential pair, so called
because of it being based on two transistors. Various
implementations of this amplifier are discussed and explained
in terms of CMRR.
Current sources. For
many applications, a stable source of current is needed.
Various current sources are explained.
Frequency analysis.
An important parameter of an amplifier is it's frequency
behavior. In this part, circuits are analyzed and it is
determined and calculated what parts of the circuit are
limiting the frequency response, both in high frequencies as
well as in low frequencies. The Miller effect is explained
that "amplifies" components that connect output to input.
Feedback and stability.
Feedback, when it is positive, can cause the circuit to start
oscillating. Often this is an unwanted effect and should be
avoided. Feedback theory is used to predict when and how a
circuit will start oscillating.
Op-amp circuits. The
operational amplifier is one of the most basic circuits for
small-signal electronics. In this part, various op-amp
circuits are described
Power stages.
small-signal amplifiers normally have high output resistance,
which implies that the power output is minimal. In this
chapter, it is explained how power stages can be added to the
amplifier in order that the circuit can drive a heavy load.
At the theoretical lectures the
ideas are presented while in the practical lessons the students
have to design and implement the circuits presented in the
theoretical lectures. They finish with the design,
implementation and optimization of an audio amplifier. Each work
is between 2 and 5 weeks of work. The grade obtained for the
practical works had a weight of 30% in the final grade.
Problems and recommendations:
One problem encountered with the structure of the lectures is
the absence of tutoring lessons (TP). The students never get a
chance to test their knowledge in pen-and-paper exercises, while
the exam consists mainly of such calculations. This mismatch
caused that in one year (2005-2006), nearly everybody failed. In
the current year (2006-2007), exercises are given
extracurricular.
Statistics:
(courses: ESI)
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2004-2005
35
6
29
11
38%
2005-2006
39
7
32
1
3%
2006-2007
38
5
33
10
30%
2009-2010
8
1
7
2
29%
2010-2011
24
6
18
8
44%
Electronics II Electrónica II
Original Lecture
structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical
lectures
2x1
hour
per week
25 lectures
TP
Tutor lectures
N/A
P
Practical lectures
1x3 hours per week
10 lectures
Description
and
Calendarization
(Portuguese)
Lecture documents
Lecture Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams and
homeworks
(1)
Note:
(1): Powerpoint not the best medium for these lectures.
3c. Electronic Instrumentation
This discipline is about connecting
the various sources of signal ("information") to the electronics
and informatics world. This has basically two direct
applications. First, it teaches how to process information and
signals in an industrial environment and second, it teaches how
signals are processed in a scientific laboratory. The difference
is best shown in an example: in an industrial environment, the
temperature must be measured and controlled; below a certain
temperature a heater has to be switched on, above it, it has to
be switched off. Simple and cheap circuits are needed. To
compare, in an example of a scientific laboratory, we want to
scan the parameter 'temperature' and see its influence on the
current through for instance a diode. Very accurate information
about the temperature is needed. Since the discipline is given
to two course simultaneously (Physics Engineering, and Systems
Engineering and Informatics), a mixed-approaches is used, with
description of both industrial and scientific instrumentation
environments.
The discipline treats the following topics:
Signal conditioning.
This includes simple electronic circuits to amplify the signal
or to remove offset. Simple op-amp circuits, Wheatstone
bridge. Sources of noise. Cables. The Lock-In detector
Sensors and actuators.
A wide variety of transducers (sensors and actuators) are
described, ranging from temperature sensors to magnetic field
measurements.
Signal acquisition.
This explains how to transfer the information to a computer.
RS232 serial interfaces, GPIB (HPIB/IEE488), ADCs, etc.
A scientific laboratory.
Various measurement techniques.
Because the lectures are destined
to only one branch of the course of Engineering and Systems and
Informatics (ESI) and Physics Engineering (EFT), the number of
students is very reduced (ca. 5). The contact with the students
is therefore very well. The lectures consist of theoretical
lectures and practical lectures. Once more, the absence of
tutoring lectures is detrimental for the quality of the
discipline. However, the effects of this lack of tutoring
lectures is not yet clear, since this is the first year the
lectures are given by me.
A book is in the progress of being written on basis of the
lecture notes. First version submitted to Wiley.
Problems and recommendations:
No complete evaluation is done yet because the lectures are
currently underway. However, it seems the availability of
equipment at the practical lessons is not adequate for given
these lectures with a good quality.
Restructuring
When restructuring the course from
ESI to MIEET the discipline has become non-optional to MIEET.
The influx has dramatically increased. However, no investment
was done in the practical lectures that now remains nearly
completely in the hands of private investments.
In the new version, more emphasis
is made on the integration of the threes aspects, Physics,
Electronics and Informatics. The most obvious and visible
difference is the introduction of the Arduino
processor/interface board into the practical lecture. This in
practice turned out to be highly motivational for the students.
Apart from this, electronic and informatics equipment such as
hard disks and electronic boards have been recycled to make use
of the electronic components. An example is the practical work
on programming a stepper engine from a hard disk with the
Arduino board.
The highlight for 2012 is
working on a book about the lectures of Electronic
Instrumentation. This is a work in progress that is expected
to be finished in summer of 2012 and will have about 300
pages.
Note
(1): Powerpoint not the best medium for these lectures.
3d. Fundamentals of Electronic Components
Description:
This discipline describes the underlying physics of electronic
components in more detail. The discipline is vary similar to an
a course of physics of semiconductor devices, see for instance
the book of Sze, "Physics of Semiconductor Devices". As such, it
is not essential for an electronics engineer, but useful for
whom wants to understand the behavior of electronics and
electronic materials better.
The lectures were given as an option for final-year students of
the course ESC (Engenharia de Sistemas e Computação).
Because of the lectures were optional, all students arrived at
the lectures well motivated which is also represented in the
fact that all but one student passed the exam even though the
level was high.
The following subjects were covered:
Conduction.
Description of the process of conduction and defining the
parameters associated with it, such as conductivity
(resistivity), mobility, charge density, electrical field,
etc.
Semiconductor physics
Including subjects such as: band structure, theory of
conduction, crystals, Fermi-Dirac distribution,
Donor/acceptors, temperature effects, Maxwell equations
Device Physics I.
Bipolar transistor, diode, Schottky barrier, Ohmic contacts
Non (thermal) equilibrium.
Various transient measurement techniques.
Device Physics II:
MIS diode, Field-effect transistor
During the theoretical lectures,
the ideas are presented. The practical lectures consisted of
solving problems which had to be handed in at the beginning of
the next lecture each with a study load of approximately 3
hours. These counted for the final mark (20%).
The number of students attending the lectures was reduced (ca.
9) which imposes less demands on the lecture structure and
organization and causes an increased contact time per student,
and once more increasing the success rate.
Problems and recommendations:
The infrastructures are not adequate for practical lessons (P).
Instead, tutoring lessons were given (TP). Yet, practical
lessons might be more interesting for the students. However in
terms of resources practical lessons would be too expensive and
can only be implemented in a rich university.
Statistics:
(courses: ESC)
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2002-2003
9
0
9
8
89%
Fundamentals Of Electronic Components Fundamentos de
Componentes Electrónicos
Lecture structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical
lectures
2x1
hour
per week
25 lectures
TP
Tutor lectures
1x3
hours
per
week
10
lectures
P
Practical lectures
N/A
Description
and
Calendarization
(portuguese)
Lecture documents
Lecture Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams and
homeworks
(1)
3e. Electronic Complements
Complementos de Electónica
Description:
This discipline treats some advanced topics
of electronics
Logarithmic and anti-logarithmic (exponential)
amplifiers
Analog multipliers
Phase-locked loops
Statistics:
(courses: ESC)
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2012-2013
6
0
6
3
50%
2013-2014
10
1
9
5
56%
Electronic Complements Complementes
de
Electrónica
Lecture structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical
lectures
15x1 hour per week
15 lectures
TP
Tutor lectures
15x0.5 hours per week
15 lectures
P
Practical
lectures
15x2.5 hours per week
15 lectures
Description
and
Calendarization
Lecture documents
Lecture
Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams
and
homeworks
(1)
3f1 and 3f2. Programming (Introduction to
Computing and Imperative Programming)
Description:
This is a purely informatics discipline. Here the students learn how
to program and the logic of programming. The aim of the lectures is
to teach the student how to solve simple programming tasks. For
instance: how to calculate the cumulative saldo given a starting
capital and interest rate. The knowledge acquired in the lectures is
applicable to any programming language, or even programs like Excel.
There are two different disciplines, Introduction to Computing and
Imperative Programming. They are destined for two different types of
students. On the one hand is the scientific student and on the other
hand is the engineer. They have a completely different outlook on
the world and the teaching of programming has to be adjusted to
them.
Typical science students (from courses like Physics, Chemistry,
Biology, etc.) don't see the need of studying programming because
they will never use it in their entire lives (they think). They come
to the lectures without knowledge and motivation. For these
students, PASCAL is the ideal programming language because it was
designed exactly with teaching in mind. The advantage is that there
is no need to go into very much detail about how a computer works.
The computer is treated as an ideal machine. From the languages that
I know and have experience (ranging from Assembler to Java and
FORTRAN to Forth), PASCAL is by far the easiest language to learn,
since it is nearly writing in English.
Typical engineering students (from courses like Electrical or
Informatics Engineering) on the other hand, see programming as an
essential part of their curriculum. Some of them already come to the
university with some knowledge of programming, although the
underlying theory is often missing. The ideal language for them is C
because it is the most widely used language and is well linked to
the underlying machine, the computer. Moreover, following
disciplines (C++, Java, etc.) are based on the concepts of the C
language.
The difference in attitude of the students is also reflected in the
way they are treated. More specifically the practical lectures,
which are obligatory for science students (IC), meaning that their
presence is recorded and a minimum presence is required, whereas for
engineers, the practical lectures are unrecorded. This also to avoid
students which entered the university with already a large knowledge
of programming are forced to be present at the practical lectures.
In both disciplines, the number of students is very large (100-200
per semester) and for this reason the lectures have to be very
stringently organized with a well defined timeline and a clear
picture of what is going to be lectured when. In the table at the
end, in Description and Calendarization, the structure of the
lectures can be found.
The lectures are divided in about 22 blocks with one subject per
block. These cover all the basic ideas of imperative
("step-by-step") programming, ranging from conditional execution to
pointers. An on-line sebenta (lecture notes) was written in
HTML to facilitate the studying; often students need to have fast
access to the material of the theoretical lectures, for instance at
the practical lectures.
A a novelty, on-line tests were designed (in Javascript) where
students can immediately test their knowledge. These tests were also
handed out at the beginning of the lectures and then took about 15
minutes to do by the students and to discuss. This is done based on
the basic pedagogic paradigm "tell them what you will tell them,
tell it to them and tell them what you told". The mini tests cover
the new material given in the previous lectures. See an example here.
For the theoretical lectures, computers are used for two purposes.
First, the theoretical material is presented with Powerpoint
presentations. More important is to show running programs in PASCAL
and C. It is very difficult to talk theoretically about programming.
Much better is to show examples. For this purpose the computer
connected to a projector is ideal.
The practical lectures consisted of small programming tasks done in
groups of two people (groups of two people is ideal in pedagogical
and human resources terms; with groups, students can also teach each
other, but the groups are still small so as to avoid that there are
students that do [and learn] nothing). The work of the docent
consists of visiting the groups and giving hints, or explaining in a
personalized way the theory behind the exercises.During the
practical lessons, the students are not evaluated. This is based on
the idea that teaching and evaluation ideally should be not mixed,
this in order to avoid that students will refrain from asking
question out of fear of looking stupid.
For all the other disciplines described here, the
Powerpoint/Computer is not the best medium for giving the
theoretical lectures. The standard blackboard is more adequate. The
reason for this is a classical pedagogical one. When using the
blackboard, a professor takes more time in presenting things. The
students have time to think about what the professor is saying and
to process it and even come up with doubts and questions. With
Powerpoint presentations often the speed is too high and the
lectures are running the risk of overloading the students. However,
for computing lectures, the need of showing running program
outweighs the negative aspect of the risk of overloading.
At the end of the semester the students have to hand in a homework
assignment. This consists of a more elaborate problem for which they
have the entire semester to solve. Only students that pass this
practical work are admitted to the exam. At the end the result of
the practical work is combined with the theoretical exam in a ratio
1:4. All the exams and homework assignments can be found following
the links at the end.
Statistics:
Introduction to Computing Introdução à Computação
(courses: BQ,
CF, EF-FM, EF-T,
FQ, M) o
Academic
year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2001-2002
177
85
92
54
59%
2002-2003
140
68
72
34
47%
2003-2004
125
66
59
22
37%
2004-2005
122
52
70
29
41%
2005-2006
136
65
71
37
52%
Imperative Programming /
Programming 1 Programação
Imperativa / Programação 1
(courses: ESI/ESC, I, EI) o
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2002-2003
99
33
66
45
68%
2003-2004
74
41
33
20
61%
2004-2005
189
96
93
43
46%
2005-2006
175
98
77
41
53%
Notes:
* students are considered ghost when they either never showed up or
did not satisfy the necessary criteria (minimal presence at
practical lectures, etc.)
o: CF: since 2005-2006. E and EI: since 2004-2005. ESI instead of
ESC since 2003-2004
Problems and recommendations:
Normally when other professors schedule a test in the middle
of the semester, the students do not show up at my theoretical and
practical lectures. Below is given an example of the number of
students present at Programming 1 along the semester. The solution
to this problem is to no longer have tests during the lecturing
weeks of a semester. In all the universities I have worked (as a
researcher), I have never seen the idea of tests during the
semester. In all universities, there existed a final exam and for
whom failed this exam, a second round of exams was given later in
the year.
Presence of students at the
theoretical lectures of P1 along the semester (named by subject)
in 2001-2002.
Note the dip in the middle when tests of another disciplines
were scheduled.
Moreover, there is another reason why the number of ways to pass the
disciplines should be reduced. Often students come unmotivated and
unprepared to an exam because there's always a next opportunity
(including exams for Finalistas,
Trabalhadores Estudantes
and Tunistas/Associacao Academica).
They
obviously have low probability on passing the exam, but give an
equal amount of work in correction, etc. In terms of Human
Resources, this a waste.
In later years I have implemented this idea and canceled the tests
as an evaluation tool, keeping only the two exams. As can be seen in
the tables above, the success rate did not suffer. The students
mentally adapt to this new evaluation scheme and pass equally well.
The idea was then also implemented in the other lectures given by
me. A request was then passed to my colleagues to adopt this scheme
since it is their tests that are causing problems in my disciplines
(and vice verse).
A more specific problem with the computing lectures is the mismatch
between the way the lectures are given and the exams. The practical
lectures consist of resolving programming exercises on the computer,
while the exam is of type pen-and-paper. This is a serious drawback
of the evaluation method. There are two possible solutions. Either
make the practical lectures also of type pen-and-paper, but this
does not make sense from an educational point of view, or make the
exams also of type exercises on the computer. The latter solution is
ideal, but the resources are not available (both physical and human)
to implement this idea. Yet, the success rate would increase
dramatically.
A serious problem encountered at our university in general and more
so in Informatics disciplines (because of the ease of copying) is
that the students do not do their homework themselves (those
homeworks that count for the final grade). Ideally, the final grade
is based only on a practical work and the theoretical exam is
absent, or counts very little. However, it is my observation that a
lot of the practical works are copied, or are done by other people.
It often happens that a student has a maximum grade (20) for the
practical work and then have a minimal grade (<5) at the exam.
Most students don't see the problem/shame in this, since "everybody
is doing it!". It is very difficult to eliminate this type of fraud.
In recent years I call everybody to defend their work. Even so, many
escape. The only solution is to exclude the practical homework
assignment from the final grade or give it very little weight,
something that is pedagogically not desirable.
Finally, the organization of the lectures is currently 2x1 hour per
week theoretical lectures and 1x3 hours practical lectures. In my
point of view, theoretical lectures programming do not make sense,
since programming is more a hands-on discipline. It is rather
impossible to learn how to program from theory, watching a professor
talk about it. Thus, ideally, the discipline of programming only
consists of practical lectures.
This discipline describes the concepts of telecommunications.
Official program:
1. Introduction to telecommunication networks: evolution and
standardization; fundamental
concepts and topologies; network architectures.
2. Services and service networks: present and emerging
applications.
3. Traffic in circuit switched networks.
4. Guided transmission media: twisted pair of wires, coaxial
cable, optical fiber.
5. Fiber optic technology: basic components, wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM)
technology, network applications.
6. Telecommunications transport network. Plesiochronous
technologies; synchronous digital
hierarchy; network planning and performance analyses. Optical
transport networks.
7.Access networks: wired access network infrastructure; broadband
access over copper
pairs (xDSL). Optical access networks: FTTx and PONs.
Lecture structure:
Chapter 0: Introduction
- What is communication?
- Levels of the communication activity
-Types of channels
- Nyquist rate
- Channel capacity (of Shannon and Hartley)
- Standards
- Network topologies
- (A)synchronous Chapter 1: Information Theory
- information is uncertainty reduction
- Entropy of information of a scheme
- Dependent events
- Markov chains
- Encoding/decoding
- Example: 7.4 Hamming coder/decoder
- Shannon Theorem Chapter 2: The Physical Channel
- Unipolar/bipolar
- Modulation
- Drift/wander
- Manchester coding
- Long distance effects
- Coax cables
- Transmission line
- Lossy cables
- Waveguides- Fiber optics
- Optical amplification
- Noise Chapter 3: Access Networks
- IDN
- ISDN
- xDSL
- optical networks Chapter 4: Transport Networks
- Time-division multiplexing
- Plesiosynchronous
- Synchronous digital heirarchy
Appendix A; Modulation
- Amplitude shift keying / on/off keying
- Frequency shift keying
- (Binary) phase shift keying
- Quadrature phase shit keying
- Quadrature amplitude modulation
- Trellis code modulation
- Pulse amplitude modulation
- Pulse code modulation
- Pulse width modulation
Bibliography
The lecture notes are based on the following books (as indicated
in the lecture notes):
Khinchin, “Mathematical foundations of information theory”
Pierce, “An introduction to information theory. Symbols, signals
and noise”
MacKay, “Information theiry, inference and learning algorithms”
Proakis, “Communication system engineering”
Benvenuto, “Principles of communications networks and systems”
Duck & Read, “Data communications and computer networks
Statistics:
(courses: MIEET)
Academic year
#students
#ghost*
#evaluated
#passed
success
rate
2014-2015
20
1
19
15
79%
Telecommunications Network Systems Sistemas de Redes de Telecomunicações
Lecture structure
type
description
Frequency
Total
T
Theoretical lectures
2x1
hour
per week
25 lectures
TP
Tutor lectures
1x3
hours
per
week
10
lectures
P
Practical lectures
N/A
Description
and
Calendarization
Lecture documents
Lecture Notes T (Sebenta)
Exercises
TP
Practical
lectures P
Slides
T
Exams and
homeworks
(1)
4. Other
pedagogic activity
Final-year Projects (5-year
licenciatura):
"Measuring FET parameters as a function of frequency" (Parâmetros de FET's em Função de
Frequência), José Almada and Nelson Pimenta, Final-year
project of ESC, 4 November 2003.
"Implementation of a QCM measurement system", Diogo
Emanuel de Moura Lobo and Carlos Miguel Fernandes Dias,
Final-year project of ESI, 25 July 2006.
Final-year Project (5-year
masters):
"Wireless sensor network array for monitoring fish", Sistema
de Monitorização paraTanques de Aquacultura
utilizando Rede de Sensores sem Fios, Daniel Roitman
Pozzatti (2014).
Final-year Projects (3-year licenciatura)
"Desenvolvimento de um sistema de aquisição de dados
Open Source", Denis Sirbu (2013).
"Sistema de captura e processamentode imagem para
tanques de peixes", Estéfano A. Peroza (2013).
"Desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de sinalização de
exposição à radiação", Helder Vieira (2013).
In 2005, a student from Ryszard Łazarski University of Commerce and
Law visited me to do a one month stage in OptoEl.
(Co)Supervisor of PhD student, João Encarnação, "Development of
bio-sensors for the malaria setting", SFRH/BD/12772/2003. Thesis
defended in 2008, "Development
of Biosensors for Molecular Analysis".
Supervisor Starting Investigator (BIC) André Romão, 2005.
Guiding two final-years students giving lectures at a school in
Odemira. Some interesting aspect about the total arbitrariness of
the lectures attributed by my colleagues to their students. See
document here.
In 2000, P.S. was invited to give lectures at the SELOA Summer
School in Bologna. The details of the lecture and the link to the
handouts are
"Electrical Characterization of Organic Semiconductors", Peter Stallinga, 2000.
Later an additional document in the same style was added:
"Theory of (organic) (thin film) Field-Effect Transistors", Peter Stallinga, 2004.
and Zip 
. Public domain versions of Acrobat Reader
(pdf) and WinZip are available at http://www.download.com
