Needs and Training in Microelectronics Courses in the MicroElectronics Cloud Alliance

Work-in-Progress: Needs and Training in Microelectronics Courses in the MicroElectronics Cloud AllianceKnowledge Alliance 562206-EPP-1-2015-1-BG-EPPKA2-KA

Manuel CastroProfessor, Fellow IEEEIndustrial Engineering Technical School (ETSII)Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)http://www.slideshare.net/mmmcastro/[email protected]

http://meca-project.eu/

http://www.slideshare.net/mmmcastro/

mailto:[email protected]

Introduction• MicroElectronics Cloud Alliance provides a range of OERs and virtual orremote access to practice-based learning facilities

• To share laboratory experiences, CAD tools, project ideas and a commoninfrastructure a sort of “educational cloud” over the software/hardwareinfrastructure can be a solution

• All the partners of MECA: HEIs and SMEs, will develop e-learning materialsfor 22 courses in CAD systems, microelectronics technologies, test,characterization and application of integrated circuits and systems– The two courses that are being developed by UNED are:

– 1) Microelectronics Literacy and Technologies, and

– 2) Integrated Circuits and Design

• Each university will allow partners of a cloud teaching system remoteaccess to its facilities, laboratory experiments or software systems, givingthem access to new resources


MicroElectronics Cloud Alliance


Methodology• A three-year project

• The milestones are:– Report on the analysis of needs (5th month)

– Specification of the three Clouds architectures (end of the 9th month)

– Job-oriented courses and programs on entrepreneurship, projectmanagement (15th month)

– Updated HE curricula in microelectronics in collaboration with the expertsfrom the industry; mClouds system developed and implemented with aminimum of 16 courses delivered as OERs (20th month)

– Training to all staff involved in the developed OERs

– System officers and teachers/trainers from enterprises (24th month)

– Pilot tests (27 month)

– Exploitation/field trial (36th month)


Methodology

• Specific needs and problems of HE inmicroelectronics that we intend to solve are:– Little reference is made to the needs of the workplace;changes in it are not met with changes in education

– Curricula has to be updated and universities need tocollaborate for sharing course materials, intellectualproperty blocks and ideas

• A new partnership between education and work– to attain synergy between education and industry

– to foster the development of competences, technologicaland entrepreneurial skills


Methodology

•Cloud computing is transforming the wayorganizations and companies purchaseand manage computing resources

•Advantages of cloud computing:–Ensured information longevity

–It allows students to interact and cooperatewith an expanding circle of peers, regardlesstheir location


Microelectronics Courses in UNED

• This proposal is based on the past experiences ofalmost all HEI partners in the development of e-learning courses and on the expertise of UNED in thedevelopment of training courses through remotelaboratory access

• The focus is on the implementation of an e-learningframework with open educational resources, rootedon the tools developed for cloud management, thusallowing cooperation and distribution of lab sessions,CAD tools and teaching experiences


Microelectronics Courses in UNED

• UNED developed two different courses:

1. The Microelectronics Literacy and Technologies coursefocuses on delivering basic knowledge in Microelectronics. Itis divided into two clearly differentiated blocks:

– 1) Fundamentals of Microelectronics; and

– 2) Main Technology Processes in Microelectronics

2. Integrated Circuits and Design deals with more advancedconcepts in Microelectronics. This course is also dividedinto two blocks:

– 1) Technologies of Integrated Circuits; and

– 2) Design of Digital Integrated Circuits


Microelectronics Courses in UNED• VISIR (Virtual Instruments System in Reality) is the tool used in thesecourses

• It is a remote lab for electric and electronic circuits’ experiments,developed at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Sweden

• The main advantage of remote labs when compared with in-personlaboratories lies in its availability, with no temporal or geographicalrestrictions

• Also:– Low maintenance cost and requirements– No need of assistance during students’ experimentation– No associated risks for students and instruments, as well as equipment

• However, remote labs have obvious limitations not given in in-personlaboratories; for example, the degree of freedom in the design ofexperiments


MicroElectronics Courses in UNED: The website of these courses


MicroElectronics Courses in UNED

• In addition to the VISIR, each of thesecourses integrates several learningmaterials, such as:–Documents

–Videos

–Virtual tools

–SW and CAD tools

–Remote laboratories


MicroElectronics Courses in UNED: Documentation


MicroElectronics Courses in UNED: Demonstration videos


MicroElectronics Courses in UNED: Self-assessment exercises and access to virtual tools


Future Outcomes

• All HEIs have installed their own CloudStack software,virtual machines (VMs) for end-user self-service

• The starting point is connecting the different institutionsand placing a CloudStack controller in one of ourpartners

• The next step is deploying a Moodle web platform ineach partner

• Along with Moodle, all CAD software and remotelaboratories will be implemented, being a challenge tofind a solution to the issue of sharing software orhardware licenses between institutions


Conclusions• The educational cloud will allow virtual mobility of students and an easyupdate of contents

• Involving employers and labor market institutions will help attune curricula tocurrent and emerging labor market needs as well as fostering employabilityand entrepreneurship

• The mClouds architecture will enable the distribution of resources throughoutEurope

• Instructors from different European countries can take advantage of using arunning lab-experiment and delivering it in their native language

• The purpose of this Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project is to build a long-lasting partnership of SMEs with HEIs, which could evolve in joint researchactivities

• Double-line feedback, knowledge and synergy will be gained because of theenterprise/HEI partnership, improving research and innovation on companiesdue to HEI academic competitive view, thus ameliorating HE as a result ofapplying companies’ industrial application experience and expertise



Work-in-Progress: Needs and Training in Microelectronics Courses in the MicroElectronics Cloud AllianceKnowledge Alliance 562206-EPP-1-2015-1-BG-EPPKA2-KA

Manuel Castro

Professor, Fellow IEEE


[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]