EE3300/EE5300 Electronics Applications Subject Information
Overview
This subject uses a 7-week block mode format. There are 6 weeks of classes and the final week is for assessment. It is expected that you can devote approximately 18 hours per week to this subject.
The subject is designed around a series of practical projects and an extended design project. The practicals and the project should be viewed as the central priority of the subject. The intent is for you to develop your understanding of electronics by building and testing circuits. The associated theory is presented so that you can understand what you’re building and how it works.
The weekly schedule is illustrated in Figure 1. You must begin each week by studying the course material. There are no traditional lectures. Don’t come to the classes unprepared. We’ll use the workshops to discuss the material and practice analysis and design.
The labs are the heart of the subject. Each week you have a mini-project or a set of exercises to complete. You should get started on the project in the first scheduled class, then continue in your own time, and finally demonstrate completion of the activity in the final session.
Weekly organisation of the subject.
Zoom:Required material
Prescribed textbook
You will require access to the following textbook for this subject:
The prescribed book is The Art of Electronics by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, 3rd edition. This is a classic reference book with many practical circuit design examples. In this subject, we will refer to this book as “AoE”.
If you intend to pursue a career in electronics, then I highly recommend that you buy a hard copy of this book. You will continue to refer to it for circuit design inspiration.
You can also access a hard copy through the JCU library, or find PDF copies online.
Reference book
Fundamentals of Microelectronics by Behzad Razavi is the reference book for this subject. If you’re looking for more detailed explanations written in a textbook style, then I encourage you to refer to this book. It is available through the library.
Many of our tutorial questions are drawn from the second edition of this book. Sadly, tutorial questions changed for the third edition. Please see the specific questions linked on each tutorial sheet.
Assessment
There are three assessment items in this subject:
| Assessment item | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Quiz 1 | 15% |
| Quiz 2 | 25% |
| Multi-method (written portfolio and oral presentation), covering practicals and a design project | 60% |
To pass the subject, you must:
- Achieve a cumulative score of at least 50% after the application of any penalties such as late penalties, and
- Achieve at least 80% on each quiz with repeat attempts permitted under assignment conditions, and
- Submit a reasonable attempt at all items of assessment.
One of the requirements to pass this subject is that you have made a reasonable attempt at all items of assessment. A “reasonable attempt” means that you have made a genuine effort to complete the task and that your submitted work shows progress towards a significant portion of the assessment item. Subject coordinators will decide whether your submitted work shows a reasonable attempt.
Assessments 1 and 2: Quizzes
| Assessment title | Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 |
| Aligned subject learning outcomes |
|
| Weighting and due date | Quiz 1: 15% Quiz 2: 25% Quizzes will be scheduled as per the subject calendar. |
| Individual or Group | Individual |
| Word or time limit | The quizzes are intended to require 1 hour to complete, but you will be allowed 2 hours, to accommodate any students who need extra time. It is intended that the extra time will meet most AccessAbility requirements. Formal documentation is not required if your needs can be met by this arrangement. |
| Requirements for successful completion of this assessment item | You must achieve at least 80% on each quiz. If your initial attempt under test conditions is below this threshold, then you’ll be able to repeat the questions under assignment conditions. There is no limit on the number of repeated attempts. |
| Generative AI use | Generative AI tools are restricted in this assessment item. In this assessment, you can use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) only if you are working on the questions under assignment conditions. You are not permitted to access GenAI when attempting the questions under quiz conditions. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged and include a Declaration of AI-Generated Material. |
Assessment Description
There are two quizzes in this subject, to be held during the workshop sessions as per the subject calendar. The quiz questions will be similar to the tutorial questions.
The numeric score obtained under test conditions will contribute towards your weighted subject mark. In addition to this numeric score, the quizzes will also be marked as “complete” or “not yet complete”. A quiz is considered “complete” if you receive a score of at least 80% on the quiz. This means that you have demonstrated a good understanding of all questions (i.e. you made only minor errors such as mathematical mistakes). If you did not achieve 80%, then you will be given feedback and a chance to re-do the questions in your own time under assignment conditions.
Inability to complete a question during an invigilated quiz is clear evidence of what you need to work on. A deficiency in traditional exams is that most students barely look at their mistakes, let alone learn from them. We hope to rectify that by allowing you to take the question away, read up on the topic, and learn how to answer it correctly. To ensure academic integrity (i.e. to ensure that you did the work yourself), you will be asked to explain your revised quiz solution when you show it to teaching staff. You must be able to justify and explain what you have written down. If your explanation is not satisfactory, then you will need to do further study and come back later to try again.
To pass the subject, you must have both quizzes marked as “complete”. You can see in the LearnJCU gradebook whether you have successfully “completed” each quiz.
Rubric marking criteria
| Criteria | Complete | Incomplete |
|---|---|---|
| Quiz score, with each question marked separately for the marks indicated | To meet this level, you will attain a cumulative mark at or above 80% for the quiz. A mark in this range indicates that you have answered the questions to a high standard of accuracy. Your answers will show clear evidence of understanding the relevant theoretical concepts and appropriate engineering analysis methods. Any errors will only be minor and likely indicate small mistakes rather than gaps in understanding. Overall, in meeting this level, you will demonstrate thorough knowledge of the topics covered by the quiz. | At this level, you have not yet demonstrated sufficient mastery of the topics covered by the quiz. Some questions may be missing or the answers may show major errors in understanding. You are required to study the relevant material and develop an improved solution for presentation to teaching staff. |
Assessment 3: Multi-method (written portfolio and oral presentation)
| Assessment title | Portfolio |
| Aligned subject learning outcomes |
|
| Weighting and due date | 60%, with written submissions and presentations scheduled as per the subject calendar. |
| Individual or Group | Individual |
| Word or time limit | There is no word limit for the written portfolio. The oral presentations will be limited to 5 minutes for EE3300 students and 10 minutes for EE5300 students. |
| Requirements for successful completion of this assessment item | Submit a satisfactory portfolio and deliver a suitable oral presentation. |
| Generative AI use | Generative AI tools are not restricted for this assessment item. In this assessment, you can use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to assist you in any way. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged and include a Declaration of AI-Generated Material. |
Assessment Description
This assessment piece is the capstone of the subject and requires you to holistically evaluate your on-course performance in electronics design, analysis, prototyping, and characterisation, and your ability to effectively communicate technical information about these systems. Your on-course performance in these areas will be demonstrated through the weekly practicals and the design project. To provide evidence of your communication skills, you will deliver an oral presentation describing your design project, and then reflect on this presentation in the portfolio.
The portfolio task sheet provides a template for you to use. There are also portfolio templates associated with each of the weekly practicals, and you should place those at the indicated place within your overall portfolio. You should work on your portfolio document throughout the entire study period.
During each practical session, you will be provided with formative feedback on your work. Each week there are specific requirements to be met. Once you have completed the requirements, your tutor will record your practical completion in the LearnJCU gradebook. To check that you did the work yourself, you will be required to explain your circuit to the tutor, and be able to answer questions about it.
It is generally expected that you should complete the practical within the week in which it is assigned. However, if necessary, you can also show the finished task to the teaching staff in a following week. The final deadline for practical completion is when you submit your portfolio in week 7.
As you work on your design project, you will also be provided with formative feedback. You can ask for feedback during any scheduled class or by organising a meeting with teaching staff. There are also some class time that is dedicated to the design project. It is your responsibility to manage your project in such a way that you have time to receive formative feedback and act upon it.
Portfolio grade request
As part of your portfolio submission, you will request the letter grade (e.g. HD, D, C, P or F) that you believe is justified based on your achievements and the context of those achievements. To calibrate your grade request, use the rubric marking criteria shown below.
The idea is for you to genuinely self-assess and take responsibility for your progress. Ask yourself what grade you would like to achieve in this subject and work towards that. You are highly encouraged to discuss your progress and grade expectations with the subject coordinator throughout the study period. It is intended that this approach will empower you to take control and ownership of your learning.
The subject coordinator will review your portfolio. If your self-assigned grade is justified, then the subject coordinator will assign a numeric score within the range for your chosen grade. For example, if you request a D and justify it appropriately, then you will be assigned a numeric score within the range of 75% to 84%. That numeric score will contribute to your overall subject grade, alongside the quiz scores.
Do you mean that I can just give myself a HD?
Your self-assigned grade will be adopted if it is justified.
The subject coordinator reserves the right to overrule your grade if you are being unreasonable. If in doubt, discuss with teaching staff. Grading should be a conversation.
Portfolio rubric marking criteria
| Item | High distinction [85% - 100%] | Distinction [75% - 84%] | Credit [65% - 74%] | Pass [50% - 64%] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practical completion | You have completed all 5 practicals to a very high standard, including excellent presentation of measurement data and insightful analysis in the portfolio. | You have completed all 5 practicals. | You have completed 4 practicals. | You have completed 3 practicals. |
| Design project - technical achievement of final product | To meet this level, your final product shows not only technical competence but also innovation and creativity. There may be innovation in the product (e.g. applying your work in a way that is clever or addresses a real need), the design (e.g. a clever circuit approach that wasn’t obvious and required an inventive step), or any other kind of creativity. The functionality of the device is very good when assessed in the context of the constraints of the project. | Your final product shows a high degree of functionality. To meet this level, you have demonstrated excellent technical competence in carrying out your project. The functionality of the device is very good when assessed in the context of the constraints of the project. | Your final product is successful and achieves most of the functionality that would be expected given the constraints of the project. | There is clear evidence of a technically viable approach towards the problem and significant progress has been made towards realising the necessary circuit designs. |
| Design project - use of an appropriate engineering design process | Not only is there clear evidence of a systematic engineering process, but the approaches used were innovative. To reach this level, you have shown a significant intellectual contribution in setting up your calculations or simulations (e.g. in sweeping a large parameter space, considering real-world variation in components, or automating large-scale analysis using LTspice software features or external code), innovative experiments (e.g. long-running tests under varying environmental conditions, detailed characterisation of your product that goes beyond the typical measurements, and/or setting up some automation in your data collection to enable you to scale up your testing), or another kind of process innovation. | There is clear evidence of a rigorous and systematic engineering design process. Design iterations were informed by reading technical literature, performing calculations, running simulations, and building prototypes for real-world measurement. The overall design process was efficient in exploring the design space to arrive at the final product. | A systematic engineering design process was applied. Multiple candidate designs were analysed, either in simulation or experiment. There is an evidence based rationale to inform the next iteration of the design. | Multiple candidate designs were analysed, either in simulation or experiment. |
| Presentation - criticality and communication skills | You have shown a strong degree of critical thinking in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the design and the methodology that you applied. The presentation was highly effective in communicating complex technical concepts within the available time, explaining the final product and the design methodology. There were excellent visualisations, including in the presentation of data. | The presentation was highly effective in communicating complex technical concepts within the available time, explaining the final product and the design methodology. There were excellent visualisations, including in the presentation of data. | The presentation explained the final product and the design methodology that was followed. Appropriate data was shown to characterise the performance of the device and the design process that led to the final product. | The presentation explained the final product and characterised its performance. |
| (For EE5300 students only) Presentation - literature review | The literature is analysed with a high degree of criticality. The documents chosen for the review reflect the best available information related to the topic. Your review is insightful and shows deep understanding in assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the technical literature. | The documents chosen for the review reflect the best available information related to the topic. Your review is insightful and shows deep understanding in assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the technical literature. | The chosen literature is reviewed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. | The chosen literature is summarised but there is limited analysis. |
If your portfolio meets some of the criteria for one grade and some criteria for another grade, then you need to select the grade that best represents your overall level of achievement and the context of those achievements. As a starting point, each row in the rubric would generally be given roughly equal weighting, but you can make an argument to consider some aspects more heavily than others if you were affected by particular circumstances. You can use your comments in the portfolio to explain why a particular overall grade most accurately and fairly reflects your level of achievement. Discuss with the subject coordinator if you are unsure.