Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2502441 Computer Engineering | FB | 1 | 2 |
There are no prerequisites. However, it is recommended for students to have previously taken the courses “Fundamentals of Computing” and “Electricity and Electronics”.
This is a basic training course, taught during the second semester of the first academic year. Computer Fundamentals is the bridge between the courses of Electricity and Electronics and Fundamentals of Computing, in the first year, and Computer Organization in the second year.
The objectives of this course are for students to understand the role of digital systems in the computer world, be capable of designing low-to-medium complexity digital systems using logic gates and reconfigurable devices, and understand that a computer is simply a digital system of a certain complexity. In the last part of the course, a simple computer open source RISC-V is presented in order for the students to understand the concepts of process-unit, control-unit, instruction set, microinstructions, microorders and microprogramming.
Block 1: Combinational Circuits (CC)
Block 2: Sequential Circuits (SC)
Block 3: Process Unit-Control Unit (PU-CU) architecture and processors
The subject is organized in three blocks. Blocks 1 and 2 use a Coursera free access MOOC developed by the teachers of the subject. The materials offered through the MOOC include a series of videos that students must view before attending class and that contain the theoretical-practical knowledge needed for the design of digital systems, interactive self-correction exercises and a simulation environment of digital systems. Block 3 materials include a series of videos that are available through the UAB virtual campus. Block 3 uses the same work methodology indicated in the previous paragraph, without the Coursera environment.
The subject is taught in "classroom problems" mode. All face-to-face classes are treated as problem-based sessions. The classes are dedicated to solving questions and doubts in the videos, and cases proposed by the teacher. Students must actively participate in these classes; these are not conventional "theory" classes. They take place in small groups (of the order of 40-50 students), an indispensable condition to reach the necessary degree of interactivity in a subject of eminently practical character.
The course is completed with laboratory practices where students physically implement the circuits, which until then had been limited to design "on paper". Each session accommodates 20-25 students working in groups of 2 and lasts 2 hours.
Tutoring sessions may be individual or in small groups and will be done on demand and in coordination between each teacher and the related students. There may also be open tutoring sessions for all interested students that may be proposed by the teaching staff; but these will require prior submission to the corresponding forum of the Virtual Campus (CV) those specific questions about concepts or exercises that must be addressed in order for the teachers to plan and carry out that tutoring properly.
The following transversal skills are addressed and assessed during the course:
T01.02 - Develop a capacityfor analysis, synthesis and prospection: They are worked on in the face to face classes and assessed within the partial tests.
T02.01 - Work independently: Students must develop these skills by taking responsibility for viewing the videos before classes and doing the exercises autonomously. The viewing (and understanding) of the videos is assessed through Moodle questionnaires at the beginning of the classes. Both the questionnaires and the problems delivered are part of the final grade.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Exercise-based classes | 30 | 1.2 | 6, 3, 5, 1, 2, 4 |
Laboratory practices | 12 | 0.48 | 5 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Case study | 12 | 0.48 | 6, 5, 2, 7 |
Laboratory practice assignments | 10 | 0.4 | 5 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Autonomous work | 40 | 1.6 | 6, 3, 5, 1, 4, 7 |
Preparing and solving exercises | 16 | 0.64 | 2, 7 |
Videos viewing | 12 | 0.48 | 6, 3, 5, 1, 2, 4, 7 |
a) Assessment activities
For partial or final assessment tests, the teaching staff can decide on any combination of the following modalities:
All tests and exams may be with or without notes and face-to-face or virtual depending on the circumstances. This all remains at the discretion of the teaching staff, who must announce it well in advance and, if possible, at the beginning of the classes in each block associated with a partial or final exam.
Student assessment includes the following activities:
b) Assessment procedure
The mark of the course by continued assessment (CA) is obtained from:
according to the formula: AC = PT · 0,5 + Pb · 0,2 + LT · 0,3
where: PT = (PT1+PT2+PT3)/3
To pass the course the following conditions must be met:
At the end of the course:
If PT < 5 or LT < 5 after retaking these new tests, the final score of the course will be the lowest number between CA and 4.5.
The following figuresummarizes the possible situations for students having passed the laboratory practices (that is, LT ≥ 5)
c) Scheduling of the assessment activities
The dates of the assessment tests and the submission of exercises are published in the Virtual Campus (VC) and may be subject to changes in programming due to unforeseen eventualities. Any modification will be reported through this platform.
It is important to bear in mind that no assessment activities will be permitted for any student at a different date or time to that established, unless for justified causes duly advised before the activity and with the lecturer’s previous consent. In all other cases, if an activity has not been carried out, this cannot be re-assessed.
d) Grades review
The marks obtained by students in each of the tests are published in the VC. Along with the grades, the place, date and time of review will be indicated, allowing students to review the activity with the lecturer. In this context, students may discuss the activity grade awarded by the lecturers responsible for the subject.
If the student does not take part in this review, no further opportunity will be made available.
e) Irregularities committed by the student, copy and plagiarism
Notwithstanding other disciplinary measures deemed appropriate, and in accordance with the academic regulations in force, assessment activities will receive a zero whenever a student commits academic irregularities that may alter such assessment. Assessment activities graded in this way and by this procedure will not be re-assessable. If passing the assessment activity or activities in question is required to passthe subject, the awarding of a zero for disciplinary measures will also entail a direct fail for the subject, with no opportunity to re-assess this in the same academic year.
Irregularities contemplated in this procedure include, among others:
f) Assessment of students who followed the subject last year but do not successfully passed it
Students who completed and passed the laboratory practices in one of the previous two years but did not pass the course, may choose not to repeat them again during the current academic year. In that case, the laboratory practices grade (LT) will be 5, regardless of the grade reached the year they passed them.
The list of students who can choose this option will be published at the beginning of the course in the VC. If, anyway, the student wants to make the laboratory practices again, he/she must communicate it by mail to the course Coordinator.
If a student has committed irregularities (copies/plagiarism) in any evaluation activity in a previous call of the subject he will not have the right to have his practices validated (if he had approved them).
g) Special grades
To consult the academic regulations approved by the Governing Council of the UAB, please follow this link: https://www.uab.cat/doc/TR_Normativa_Academica_Plans_Nous
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Assessable practice activities | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 5, 2, 4, 7 |
Exercises delivering | 20% | 8 | 0.32 | 2, 7 |
Three partial tests and/or final test | 50% | 8 | 0.32 | 6, 3, 5, 1, 2, 4, 7 |