Work in progress - problem-based learning in digital signal processing

Learning core concepts in signal processing courses is difficult for undergraduate students in electrical engineering. In our opinion, this difficulty comes from the gap between understanding the mathematical formalism of such concepts and being able to make sense of them in a practical way. To bridge this gap, we investigate a hybrid instructional format that combines traditional lectures with a problem-based component. Our initiative aimed at providing a framework for solving multimedia-related DSP problems, where students were encouraged to formulate their own problems. The paper describes in detail the PBL component that was added to the lecture-centric course and provides an overview of the custom-designed software for system design and analysis. It also discusses the lessons that we learned during the first offering of this new course format and outlines future work directions.