Cooperative work and continuous assessment in an Electronic Systems laboratory course in a Telecommunication Engineering degree

Electronic laboratory courses offer the possibility to introduce some specific and transversal skills to the curriculum of the students who follow an engineering degree. This paper examines the methodology and assessment which are applied in the laboratory course of the subject “Electronic Systems” in the second year course in the Telecommunication Engineering degree from the Castelldefels School of Technologyy (Escola Politècnica Superior de Castelldefels, EPSC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). During 14 laboratory weekly sessions of 2 h, students must analyze and design the analog and digital circuitry for an ultrasound-based distance measurement system, by means of several guided practices. Small groups of two or three students worked on a collaborative way, while the teacher acted as a guide to facilitate project comprehension and knowledge acquisition. The experience we describe corresponds to the Spring term of 2009, a period in which this methodology was applied to two small class groups of about 23 and 7 students respectively. This work studies the influence of the initial characteristics of the students and their time devoted to prepare the subject, on their academic performance. The paper finishes with a list of recommendations in order to improve students learning process and course assessment.