Tim DeClapiers,
Scott Robinson, Jim Weir
2 March 2001
Csc 332
Simply Wagh
Questions for Preliminary Requirements Analysis
Who? Audience analysis.
1. Who is your audience? Develop a profile of typical age, gender, background, experience, attitudes, etc. Do you want to include or attract an audience wider than your typical profile?
If so, revise your profile to be more inclusive.
- Our audience includes any student taking the Ece 33 course.
- This typically consists of Computer Engineering and Computer Science sophomores, mostly male, various ethnic backgrounds.
- We are not making any assumptions about prior experience in either Boolean logic or digital circuit design. This sort of experience is useful, but not necessary.
- We do not intend to try and attract an audience wider than this profile.
2. What can you assume as background? What limitations or attitudes might some of your audience have that need to be overcome?
- Experience using a web browser is a safe assumption with most college students.
- Boolean algebra requires a very different way of thinking from regular algebra and it’s rules. Some of the audience may have trouble getting adjusted to this new type of arithmetic, as well as the way in which Boolean algebra relates to digital circuits.
What? Goals and Content Analysis
3. What unit or chapter’s worth of material do you want to teach?
- Although there is a book for the course, it is used more as a reference than a strict guide. Therefore, instead of selecting a single chapter from this book, we have collected major concepts from the entire course.
4. What are the major topics of your chapter? Itemize them. Later write a short paragraph about each, then develop a hierarchical outline of topics and sub-topics. (This part requires detailed analysis! It’s a bit easier if you can work from existing material, such as a chapter of a textbook or teacher’s lesson plans.)
A. Binary Arithmetic
i. Binary to Decimal
ii. Decimal to Binary
i. 1’s complement
ii. 2’s complement
i. Primitive Gates
1. AND
2. OR
3. NOT
ii. Complex Gates
1. XOR
2. NAND
3. NOR
iii. Theorems
iv. Canonical SOP Form
v. Truth Tables
i. Minterms
ii. Don’t Cares
iii. Boolean Function Derivation
i. Minimization
ii. Covering Table
i. Positive Triggering
ii. Negative Triggering
i. S-R Latch
ii. D Flip-Flop
iii. T Flip-Flop
iv. JK Flip-Flop
i. Meally
ii. Moore
*Note: This collection of major themes in computer logic may not necessarily all be implemented due to the time constraints of the semester.
5. What are the key concepts/skills of your chapter that you would like the learner to master?
- Students should be able to design simple combinational circuits, given input and output requirements.
- Students should also be able to design basic sequential circuits, given requirements for input, output, memory, and timing.
6. What is the desired performance level for learning these concepts/skills?
- A conceptual knowledge of these skills is sufficient.
Why? Needs Assessment
7. What are the current sources/methods/practices by which students learn these concepts/skills?
(Look at texts currently in use; interview faculty, TAs and students about current approach.)
- Professor Wagh teaches the course solely from his own knowledge of the concepts, making use of the book only as a reference for homework assignments.
- Students are given a recitation for discussing homework solutions and working through example problems.
8. What are the results of these practices? How can these practices be improved by multimedia?
- Students work through all problems on paper.
- This does not offer the opportunity to see a functional digital circuit in action.
- Our software will give students the opportunity to construct and simulate small-scale digital circuits.
- It will also give a step by step solution to the problems for clarity
9. What areas of difficulty are students having that multimedia could address? How?
- Students are having difficulty remembering techniques and methods that were demonstrated in class.
- Students may find the material boring, so a multimedia application might make it more enjoyable for the student to learn.
- Students can just log onto a web page at any location to tutor themselves and not have to worry about bringing a notebook with them everywhere.
10. What strategies could you use for content and presentation of your material?
- straightforward interface
- clear explanations of topics
- clean graphics and sound
- making the material fun to learn
Where, how and when? Deployment, resources and timeline.
11. Where will your module be deployed? Via CD-ROM or via the Web or both?
- Our module will be deployed on the web.
- We should request some extra space on the EECS web server from Flash to deploy the application (once we know what our disk space quota requirements are).
12. Who will work on your project? What roles will each project member have?
- Jim Weir: multimedia programmer, animation
- Scott Robinson: multimedia programmer, storyboarding, graphics
- Tim DeClapiers: multimedia programmer, sound
13. Who is the domain expert for teaching your content? How will he/she work with your team?
- Professor Wagh and his teaching assistants (Anthony Delibero, Eric Krute) are the domain experts.
- Anthony and Eric have provided a Java based logic simulation application. This will be enhanced and used as a teaching tool.
14. What hardware and software resources will you need? What do you already have?
- We already have PC’s to run all necessary software.
- We expect to be using Authorware, Flash, Shockwave, and Java.
15. When do you expect to complete a design, a prototype, a testable program?
- design: March 1
- prototype: April 1
- testable program: May 15