| Control
Studio 1 and PCB Wizard 2.6 Review |
| Journal of Design
& Technology Education, Autumn 2000 |
|
| Marks are indicated
by stars (*) where ***** represents the highest grade 'Excellent'. |
|
| Appropriate content
***** |
| Pupil/Student use ***** |
| Teacher resource ***** |
| Overall style
**** |
|
Control Studio combined with PCB Wizard is truly
outstanding. It may not be for the purists, however if you are
a teacher and you want quick results with minimal fuss then
this is what you need (New Wave Concepts describe it as the
'hottest product around' - it is certainly very impressive).
|
|
| The use of a systems
approach within electronics is now common and a variety of kits
are available to develop circuits using systems boards (Unilab
Alpha, MFA, etc.). When they first arrived they changed the
face of teaching electronics. This may now happen again as New
Wave Concepts have created a software version utilising a systems
approach. What is even more remarkable is that the transition
to PCB is seamless, painless and very, very quick. The whole
system is intuitive and within a matter of minutes you can produce
the most ridiculously complex circuit and translate it to a
PCB without ever wondering if the chip in the systems board
has blown. The usual features are there from PCB Wizard such
as a real-world view of the components, smart auto-routing tools
and a running total of the cost of the components. |
|
| The purists may not
be happy as translation from either a systems approach (Control
Studio) or a components approach (Crocodile Clips) to a PCB
is very rapid and requires minimal component knowledge. |
|
The continued introduction
of this type of rapid prototyping / production software does
pose interesting pedagogical questions about subject knowledge
and in this example about electronics knowledge. With very little
knowledge required to be able to produce quite complex work
- progression might have to become retrospective, e.g. you create
the 'whole' first and then find out about the individual parts
later. Perhaps the software designers who have given Design
& Technology teachers the 'holy grail' in terms of manufacturing
capability might want to address this issue with the next generation
of software. 
|
