Effect of using simulator as teaching aid on microprocessor course performance

With the advancement in computer technology, the utilization of computer software to aid in engineering analysis and design becomes more essential. It has been practiced in industry as well as in teaching and learning especially computing courses. Among the courses is the Microprocessor System course which is a compulsory subject for diploma and undergraduate electrical engineering program. It consists of theoretical, assembly language programming and interfacing with the hardware. To assist the teaching and learning process of this course, MGTEK MiniIDE and SimHC12 simulators have been used. Therefore, our work selects three criteria which reflect students' understanding of the simulator namely: self-development, self-evaluation, and self-supervision to study how each criterion affects the performance. The survey responses which involved 39 students have shown that the students' performance in Microprocessor course is indeed affected by self-development effort and self-supervision ability. However, their self-perception of understanding the simulator usage does not affect their performance. These findings help directing towards future improvement of the students' performance.