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Tektronix PC Courseware Editor for TBS1000B-EDU educational oscilloscope

Former Member

I'm currently exploring the Tektronix PC Courseware Editor and putting together some ideas for interactive practical activities for students using our new TBS1202B-EDU oscilloscope. The courseware editor provides a straightforward, well-structured and relatively versatile platform for developing student labsheets and test protocols. These are easily exported to the oscilloscope via a USB flash drive.


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The editor organises courseware according to a hierarchical system of "packages", "courses" and "labs". Packages allow you to bundle up large swathes of material for transfer to the oscilloscope in one operation. Students then access the labs which are further subdivided into individual steps. It's possible to capture and save an oscilloscope screenshot per step with the screenshots being automatically collated for future analysis and use in lab reports or presentations. A big advantage, in my view, of the Tektronix courseware I've looked at so far is the flexibility afforded by smaller sub-units, allowing you to mix and match labs to create your own courses. I've a tendency to "Not Invented Here syndrome" when it comes to delivering course materials that can only be implemented as a complete, sequential, one-size-fits-all  package. But Tektronix provides a resource with scope to take a top-down approach to course design and sufficient freedom to interlink their ready-made labs with ones I've developed myself.

 

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I wanted to try out the courseware editor using an existing practical activity and chose a second year undergraduate lab where I currently have an overly long (12 page) lab worksheet. One difficulty in writing detailed step-by-step practical worksheets is that students can end up not being able to see the wood for the trees. So when measurement details become too lengthy I'd rather provide a separate appendix, or refer students to the instrumentation user guide, leaving the main labsheet to focus on the key concepts. The Tektronix system means I can deliver the measurement instructions via the TBS1202B-EDU oscilloscope itself, keeping the paper handout more streamlined.

 

Another potential advantage here is that this group of students (BSc Music Technology) is always diverse in terms of their previous experiences with oscilloscopes and measurement techniques in general. So an oscilloscope that prompts them to adjust settings, use the cursors, capture screenshots etc. may well increase confidence for the less experienced members of the group and benefit the group dynamics.

 

On the other hand, a reservation I have about letting the oscilloscope file all the data is that students might be tempted to postpone analysis. With workshop style practicals I normally design activities around an experiential learning cycle (Kolb or adult learning cycle). Ideally I want students to interpret and reflect on their practical results in the moment, not after the session. One solution might be to connect up a printer so that we have a hardcopy to discuss within the session.

 

So far I've successfully used the courseware editor with only minor drawbacks. Another element14 user mentioned a problem with the equation editor and I encountered a similar issue. (See  Andrew Wixted  "Tektronix TBS1202B-EDU Digital Oscilloscope"). And I had a few difficulties including images in the labsheet too. One more concern is that I haven't yet found a way to review and select the screenshots captured by the oscilloscope.

 

But so far so good, and I'm looking forward to seeing what difference it makes to the students' experience when they come back after the Easter break. I'm also looking forward to selecting some of the Tektronix packages and courses to explore next term, with a view to creating a new set of labs for future groups of students.

  • in reply to sqkybeaver

    Hi DAB and Sheldon, thanks for your comments. I'll update the blog after I've gained some feedback from students next week. I've written a small activity for Monday's practical sessions using the Tektronix courseware editor, and I'm hoping that delivering this via the scope will make it more engaging for the student group. I think they will certainly appreciate being able to collate and save traces onto a USB drive, but I have some reservations too.

    Colleagues and I will also review some of the Tektronix courseware. For first year digital electronics I'm particularly interested in looking at practicals around timing considerations in combinational and sequential circuits, race conditions, elusive glitches etc. I think there may well be advantages in delivering these topics via the TBS1202B-EDU, alongside practice with the relevant oscilloscope functions. If anyone out there has interesting examples around this topic, I'm always on the lookout for "real-life" problem-solving scenarios for students!

  • in reply to DAB

    DAB wrote:

    The community could benefit from a step by step walk through of the options and an overall assessment of how well the tools met your needs.

    great idea

  • Hi Joy,

     

    Good post.

    When I first heard about the Oscope based training capability, I did a little digging and Tecktronix has done an amazing job of putting this whole package together.

    I can easily see where any organization that needs to teach people how to use these valuable instruments would be drawn to this line of devices.

    The over structure of the training material makes it a good model for just about any training that you might want to do.

     

    I look forward to seeing what you find as you go through the material in detail.

    Are you going to do a test program to check it out?  The community could benefit from a step by step walk through of the options and an overall assessment of how well the tools met your needs.

     

    DAB