Dr. Nithin. M is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at R V College of Engineering, Bangalore. He is a Faculty of Engineering with more than 10 years of experience in the development of quality technical education through curriculum design and teaching. As an educationist, he discusses various topics such as online fatigue of students to the challenges of introducing new courses for them. He aims to build policies that suit the demands of the new-age education sector. 

R V College of Engineering

What are some valuable insights into the program that you are offering at your department?

“Students develop the skills of analytical thinking, problem-solving, and technology"

As the technology advances at a rapid pace, the Department of ECE at RVCE offers graduate programs that capture the latest advancements. The undergraduate program and the two post-graduate programs provide an excellent and in-depth curriculum to meet the requirements of the industry and also catering to the recent research in the various core and allied domains. Through the various structured courses in the domains of Communication, Signal Processing, Embedded Systems and VLSI Design, students gain a solid foundation in analytical thinking, problem solving and technology. The programs foster skills in ethical leadership, communication and teamwork. The core as well as elective classes are interactive and incorporate discussion, one-on-one help, and hands-on activities.

What is the latest course that you are offering in your department for student’s benefit?

“Courses in the field of Radio Frequency and Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits Design and Mixed Signal IC Design”

New courses are being offered by various domain experts in the department. I have recently handled a course on Radio Frequency and Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits Design. It focuses on understanding the design of radio-frequency integrated circuits used for wireless communications which is the need of the hour. Communication technology is advancing rapidly with 5G and beyond. This class focuses on theoretical and practical RF circuit design techniques from architecture down to transistor-level circuit design.

What are the factors that make this course the best for the students?

“For both system and circuit design, students will learn new software tools"

The course RF and MMW IC Design is a perfect blend of theory and practice where students are given ample hands-on opportunities. They can practically implement the concepts learned in their lecture. Two new software tools are introduced to students to understand and design both system level and circuit level concepts. Students interested in Analog VLSI have taken the course since it is an elective in the 6th semester of the Undergraduate Programme. Based on the feedback they have given me; I am pretty sure that they enjoyed the course.

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What will you say are the “best practices” in the course you’re offering?

“Shorter duration of online lectures and a strong feedback mechanism for students”

In all my classes, I try to bring in different ideas for the best delivery, especially after the pandemic, when the classes became online. As online fatigue is something that has taken its peak after the first wave of covid, I have experimented with a few techniques in my classes.

  • Lectures will be limited to 45 to 50 minutes maximum, where two stretch breaks will be given in between. 
  • To avoid monotony, I have incorporated games in the form of interactive quizzes to retain the attention of students. 
  • Sufficient time will be given at the end of the class for discussion and doubts clearance. 
  • A doubts forum was created where students can drop their questions and it will be answered and shared among the entire class.
  • Class lectures and class notes were shared via the Canvas platform
  • Incorporated sufficient simulation experiments to complement the theory classes.
  • Recorded lectures were made available to students via my YouTube channel.

How did you train yourself to deliver these courses to the students?

“Studying online learning at the University of California, Los Angeles & San Diego has been worthwhile"

Since the courses I am teaching are aligned with my research area, I was able to bring my expertise and experience to the classroom. Through my studies at the University of California, I took a number of online courses dealing primarily with online teaching, which I found extremely useful during pandemic times. In my current program with UCLA Extension, I am learning about recent advances in the area of IC Design so that I can convey them to my students. 

What were the challenges that you faced while inculcating this program in your curriculum?

“The ability and willingness of students to grasp the subject is sometimes unknown”

Introducing any new course is a challenge for the first time. As we don't know how the students will grasp that particular course even though prerequisites are covered before. Nevertheless, the department always assigns the same team of faculty for the second time to rectify the difficulties encountered during implementation. The curriculum revision which happens every two years always helps in closing the loops and that will be done by including all the stakeholders.

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What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this program?

“Hardware and software-based research projects”

Students work on a variety of projects in all the core verticals of the department. They work on both hardware and software-based research projects which will always result in good research publications and patents.