Poster 8:

Scaffolded Electronics Design Studio: Reporting, Soldering, Simulation and Bilingual First-Year Success

Sami Haider (Heriot-Watt University, UK)

First-year electronics students frequently encounter simultaneous challenges, mastering technical principles, engaging in laboratory practice, producing academic writing and utilising specialised software pressures intensified for bilingual groups studying in English. I restructured a Praxis Electronics Design module into a scaffolded framework, report templates and exemplars with referencing assistance; sequential simulation tasks; soldering preparation accompanied by safety artefacts; quality assessments for PCB design; and a final Arduino mini-project that connects simulation to tangible troubleshooting. I conduct a mixed-methods evaluation employing rubric-based report analysis, task completion and learning analytics, student surveys, and bilingual student focus groups to ascertain which scaffolds most effectively enhance learning, confidence, and inclusion.