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Automated student testing of Matlab code, Part 1

Automated student testing of Matlab code, Part 1

It's important to have dynamic 24/7 interactive activities for programming classes. There are plenty of solutions out there, including Matlab Grader and Möbius. The folks at Jetbrains have their Academy system, too. What I need, at this stage, is a no bells-and-whistles, auto-grader for Matlab code that can run a unit test on a student's […]

VPL: Circuit Simulation Assignments with SPICE

VPL: Circuit Simulation Assignments with SPICE

Introduction In YorkU's EECS Department, we have access to NGSPICE on our department's Linux machines (via RemoteLab). NGSPICE is yet another variation on the venerable SPICE circuit simulator. Our the University's Moodle system, eClass, we have access to Virtual Programming Lab, a framework for making interactive exercises for students. It is typically used with programming […]

VPL: Simplest Working Example

VPL: Simplest Working Example

Virtual Programming Lab can be a little intimidating to use, but once you get the swing of things, it's pretty good. So, let's get you started with the simplest possible working example. We assume that: you have Moodle working at your institution someone has installed VPL on Moodle and you don't need or have access […]

Welcome to my Classroom

Welcome to my Classroom

The Teaching in Focus (TiF) conference at York was held online in 2021 due to the pandemic.  Here's a list of the abstracts.  My "Welcome to my Classroom" talk was based on the work I did in EECS 1011, 1021 and 2021: Giving students rapid and accurate feedback is vital. We can do so with […]

Simulating Micros from Command Line

Simulating Micros from Command Line

Introduction Microchip's MPLAB X permits simulation from the command line.  This is interesting from the perspective of teaching if we have automatically-graded programming assignments that take the student's program and runs it against a simulated chip in an LMS like Moodle. Background I'm interested in how we can use the MDB in MPLAB X to […]

eClass messaging

eClass messaging

Most profs have overflowing email inboxes, making it hard to keep track of student emails.  Two ways that I've heard of dealing with this effectively is to (a) create a class specific email address and (b) have students use the messaging system within the LMS. While messaging will work by default, you may wish to […]

Moodle "Demo Student"

Moodle "Demo Student"

When designing your content on Moodle (eClass) it's important to test out how it looks and feels from a student perspective. In the Summer of 2020, YorkU's "DemoStudent" was introduced to provide that.  With few exceptions, it shows what the student sees, all without having profs ask a student to log in or to beg […]

eClass "Playground" course

eClass "Playground" course

UIT has rebadged Moodle as "eClass" and now made the "Playground" feature front and centre for teaching faculty to create areas for us to test ideas without immediately changing an existing course. Access it via the "Create Playground" link on the left of your welcome page: We can now more easily name the playground.  This […]

Tracking completion and making choices

Tracking completion and making choices

With the move to online I think that it's important to have students track their completion of tasks.  I'm turning on completion tracking on eClass. Some of the material I want students to receive grades for (like answering questions in an interactive video) while other material I want them to simply report that they did […]