Embedded.com Tech Focus Newsletter (11-17-14): Educating embedded engineers for the 21st Cenutry

As our society becomes more dependent on embedded electronics hardware and software technology, there is danger ahead. We may not be attracting – and properly educating – enough of the engineers who make it all possible.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic. We learn just the math in college.

Software engineering is not computer science, and there are programs that acknowledge this.

A professional embedded systems software engineer requires specific knowledge in a number of areas, together with problem-solving skills to apply this knowledge as a team member in building safe, secure, and reliable systems. Regrettably, says Adacore’s Robert Dewar, university Computer Science programs fail to provide either.

Using the ARM-based online mbed development environment, the authors describe a new approach to teaching embedded systems design to university students in computer science and electrical engineering.

The design of a teaching program that used Arduino boards and modules to introduce undergraduate university students to the basics of hardware and software development.

How BuzzBoards, a processor-agnostic rapid prototyping kit of hardware and software components is used to allow students to quickly create Internet-of-Things, Pervasive Computing and Intelligent Environment designs.

How simulation tools such as Matlab and Simulink can be used to accelerate the training of students who enter school less skilled in science, technology engineering and mathematics.

An engineering teacher at Rochester Institute of Technology shares his thoughts on what kind of software engineering education the next generation of computing students will need.

How educating engineering students in systems thinking and systems design requires an approach to teaching and learning in which the purpose is toachieve competence in systems thinking rather than to acquire specialized subject knowledge.

How summer boot camps in robotics and smartphone programming for high school students can be used to attract and begin to train them in the science, technology engineering and math they will need in college.

It appears that those of us who think we can help boost the science, technology, engineering, and math proficiency in the US are trapped between at least two negative forces: education elitist and government officials who believe science and engineering is all lies.

Engineers practice engineering in context, so why is it taught out of context?