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UNIT TITLE: Electronics Fundamentals
CREDIT POINTS: 20
FHEQ LEVEL: 4
UNIT DESIGNATION: Traditional
UNIT CODE: MED406
ACADEMIC SCHOOL: Media Arts
Technology
Delivering School: Media Arts
Technology
Date validated: May 2014
Date last modified: N/A
Unit delivery model: CD
Max & Min Student No: N/A
and
and
TOTAL STUDENT WORKLOAD
Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal scheduled sessions for
the unit. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent
study in support of the unit.
PRE-REQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES: None
UNIT DESCRIPTION
This unit is designed to introduce students to a range of fundamental electronic
components and their operational characteristics. Students will consider key properties in
the context of audio and visual electronic systems. Digital concepts shall be introduced
including how to express and design basic control circuits.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
K1
Describe the properties and behaviour of electronic circuit elements under AC and
DC conditions.
K2
Use appropriate equations to analyse circuit behaviour.
Cognitive Skills
C1
Design analogue and digital systems to a given specification.
Practical and Professional Skills
P1
Investigate and test a range of electronic systems.
P2
Evaluate electronic components using test data and device specifications.
Transferable and Key Skills
T1
Record information and make appropriate use of data.
AREAS OF STUDY
Basic Electricity: voltage; current; resistance; EMF; Ohm’s law; electrical charge;
electrical Energy; power; DC and AC; RMS.
Test Equipment: bench supplies; function generators; oscilloscopes; multi-meters.
Analogue Components and Circuits: identification and units;
Resistors; series and parallel; Kirchoff’s laws; Thevenin theorem
Capacitors: charging; coupling circuits; testing.
Inductors: electricity and magnetism; inductive reactance; mains and audio transformers
Semiconductor devices: the PN junction diode; Zener diode; operational amplifiers;
introduction to BJT transistors.
DC power supplies: linear regulated power supplies; rectification; regulation: zener.
Digital circuits: binary coding schemes; simple logic gates; Boolean representation;
combinational; sequential; bi-stable lathes.
LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY
Lectures will introduce new concepts and terminology that will be supported and
reinforced through small group tutorial activities and laboratory investigations.
Seminar sessions will typically involve problem solving and self-study questions, whilst the
laboratory sessions will present students with realistic practical problems to encourage
both theoretical enquiry and practical discovery.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
The assessment process is designed to assist learning by providing each student with
timely and regular formative feedback.
The in-class timed assessment comprises four 30 minute short-form tests. These will be
open book (limited to 2 sides of A4 hand written notes) to encourage students to take
notes and review material. Students will be prepared for the assessment by formative
feedback on typical questions during seminar sessions.
The laboratory sessions present students with a series of practical exercises and projects
throughout the unit. Typically these will contain a number of questions to be answered or
results to be obtained. Initially students will be tasked with writing a practice report to
provide formative feedback. Towards the end of the year students will be assessed on a
final report. The report will be informed by the results and learning outcomes from a
number of the lab activities and will document the investigation and calculation required
to solve a design problem.
ASSESSMENT
AE1
weighting:
assessment type:
length/duration:
online submission:
grade marking:
anonymous marking:
AE2
weighting:
assessment type:
length/duration:
online submission:
grade marking:
anonymous marking:
60%
In-class Timed Assessment
4 x 30 minute
No
No
No
40%
Report
Maximum 1,000 words
Yes
Yes
Yes
Aggregation of marks
The marks for each element of assessment will be aggregated to give an overall mark for
the unit.
Re-assessment Arrangements
An alternative paper will be made available for students needing to re-sit AE1.
An alternative report brief will be made available for students needing to re-sit AE2.
Access to laboratory facilities will be made available for resit work.
Unit Author: Paul Bourne
Date of version: May 2014