RETHINKING THE FIRST YEAR PROGRAMMING COURSE
William David Lubitz · Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) · 2011
The use of microcontrollers in beginning programming classes has been found to increase student learning and enthusiasm. Microcontroller programming has been successfully used in advanced undergraduate courses as a way to reinforce previous learning and to practice design, and in beginning undergraduate courses to introduce basic programming concepts in an engaging and relevant manner. Based on observations in a third year undergraduate course that included both traditional and microcontroller programming, a case is made for using a user-friendly microcontroller, instead of a traditional full-featured language, to teach fundamental programming concepts to novice engineering students.