Based on registrations for classes filling up, there seems to be never ending interest in Electronics, Arduino, Microcontroller, Raspberry Pi,… This posting is to find out about what classes would be interesting and to encourage others to teach classes. I think the DMS model free and cheap classes and rewarding teachers with an honorarium is a significant part in our pre-Covid growth. As I look at the calendar today, we are moving back toward our previous mode of more and more classes with lots of them FULL. Before Covid, about six (I think) of use were offering a range of electronics classes. Having pulled back for over two years, I’m moving back into teaching but there are few other classes in these areas.
There are several ways that you can help get more activity in this area. The easiest is to reply here with a list of classes that you would like to see. If you know someone that might teach, encourage them. Many of you can teach a DMS class. It does take preparation but, there are a number of us that would be glad to help. Just reply with, “I would like to teach…” Many classes require parts to use in building circuits. I furnish my own but ELab has lots of supplies and @artg_dms is open to discussing DMS purchasing parts to support classes.
To get things moving, I will offer a few ideas for classes I think we should have:
- DC Circuits: power sources, resistors, voltage, current, Ohms law, multimeters,…
- Simple Transistor and OpAmp circuits
- Soldering
- Anything related to Raspberry Pi
- Robotics
- Animatronics
- Oscilloscopes
- Advanced microcontroller usage - All my classes welcome beginners in electronics and programming. When students leave, they have run Arduino IDE or Thonny, plugged in components, loaded programs to exercise the circuit. We need a more advanced series of classes to follow up.
- PlatformIO or Visual Studio Code - A few people have mentioned that I should use these since they are better than the Arduino IDE. While I agree that they are better tools, I have settled into teaching beginners and those with limited experience. Arduino IDE is the most popular tool on YouTube and other helpful sites.
- Wokwi - This neat free microcontroller simulator is probably too simple to justify a how-to class on it but a class could be developed with real programs and virtual components and students could Virtually Make circuits. In my classes, we use real physical components but I have started taking about three or four minutes at the end of lecture to show of this site. Students can then go home, grab a snack and start programming without buying real parts. Here is a link to a sample that I set up for a Robot Camp that I am running. It simulates what a obstacle avoidance robot might do by using a servo to aim a distance sensor three directions to decide which way to go. The “distances” are random numbers but it illustrates a circuit with three components. Just click the triangle Play button!
- rc03_robot_servo.ino - Wokwi Arduino and ESP32 Simulator
I do not currently have any classes on the calendar but here is a list of classes that I have run and could run again. Are any of these of interest? Click the link to get a description of the class.
Arduino: ESP8266 and the Cute Little OLED Color Displays
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18632
Arduino: ESP8266 Sensors for Fun and Non Profit!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18633
Arduino: Make an Atomic Clock with an ESP8266 and an I2C LCD Display
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18640
RPi Pico W: Sensors for Fun and Non Profit!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18641
RPi Pico W: ThingSpeak into the IoT with MicroPython and MQTT
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18538
Arduino: Controlling the Wild RGB LED Strips!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18576
Raspberry Pi Pico W - Make an Alarm that Tweets
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18481
Arduino: Sensors for Fun and Non Profit!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18425
Arduino: Make an Atomic Clock with an I2C LCD Display
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/18422
Arduino: Blynk into the Internet of Things!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/15098
Arduino: Low-Power/Deep-Sleep and the WiFi Solar Weather Station
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/14765
Arduino: Using I2C LCD Displays
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/14596
Arduino: Wireless Communication with the NRF24L01 Trasceiver
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/14032
Arduino: Exploring the Mighty ATtiny85!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/5841
Build a $10 Alarm that Tweets
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/3261
If I ran this again, it would probably be $20 or so.