This course is taught from the textbook, PPT slides, and datasheets. The lectures are directly synchronized to the labs; material needed by a lab will always be covered in the lecture before the lab that requires it. You should buy the textbook; I will assign homework problems from it. The textbook is useful because it contains more detail on a subject than what is found in the PPT slides. You will also find that just using the PPT slides is difficult as the slides do not contain all of the explanation needed to understand a particular topic.
The PIC18xx2 datasheet is the primary external reference in this course; a link to it is found on the course page. During tests, I will hand out relevant portions of the datasheet for you to use as reference material. You need to become familiar with the datasheet as the semester progresses and learn how to extract useful information from it. If the first time you look at the datasheet is during the test, then that will be too late.
If you would like another PIC18 reference, try Embedded Design with the PIC18Fxx2 by John Peatman - this book is taught from an assembly language emphasis and not a C emphasis, but it does give you another viewpoint on the various PIC18 hardware subsystems.
Both student and instructor share responsibility in terms of achieving the learning objectives for this course. If there is a failure in learning, try to determine where the failure is occurring - this is what any good engineer would do in debugging a problem. Is it the student or the instructor that is failing to meet his/her responsibilities? Or is it perhaps a combination of the two? As a student, the first step is to TALK to your instructor if there is a problem. Without communication, it is a guarantee that the problem will not be solved. As an instructor, I am always happy to have students see me about class-related problems - this means that they are interested in removing whatever hurdles are keeping them from reaching the class learning objectives.
Instructor Responsibilities
a. Answer questions! Do not stop explaining until understanding is reached. Do it either inside of class or outside of class, whatever it takes. Always be prepared to listen.
b. Provide guidance as to where additional information on topics can be found.
c. Provide motivation for course topics (why in the heck are we asking the students to learn this material???).
d. Grade homeworks/quizzes in a reasonable time; assign meaningful homework problems that relate to what will be on quizzes.
e. Be prepared for class. Have online notes posted that clearly explain the concepts that will be covered in the class for the day or week.
Student Responsibilities
a. Ask questions! BE CURIOUS!!!! This is one of the most important aspects of an engineer - if you are not curious, then do not be an engineer. If you are simply after money, be an investment broker, speculate in real estate, win a lottery, etc.
b. Investigate alternate data sources other than the professor.
c. Understand the relevance of what you are being asked to learn - after all, you will be expected to perform as a real engineer in a short period of time and you need to understand how to apply this knowledge!
d. Do the homework! If you don't do the homework, then don't be surprised if you do poorly on tests. See the instructor for help during office hours if you have questions on the homework.
e. Study! Read the notes covered by the instructor, ask questions if they are unclear. If you don't study, then you cannot do well on the tests. Doing well in a class is directly proportional to the effort put into studying for tests, and performing the homework/lab exercises.
What students find difficult in this course is the amount of material covered, and the pace of the coverage, not the difficulty of any one particular topic. The course concepts build on each other, so failure to understand topic 'A' means that you will not understand topic 'B' that is built on 'A'. New topics are introduced each lecture. You must keep up with the course content on a weekly basis. This means reading the material that will be covered in class BEFORE class, understanding and asking questions during the lecture, and performing the homework when it is assigned.
If you find yourself 4 weeks into the course, and completely lost (i.e, "I have not understood anything for the last 4 weeks"), then drop the course. It is a simple as that - if you are lost at that point, understanding will not come later.
You can become completely lost by not keeping up with the material, by not doing homework, by not asking questions during lecture or office hours. Keep to your student responsibilities, and you will avoid this problem!