ECE 2330

Professor Dugan is a great teacher that genuinely cares about her students. I took this class during the quarantine and she genuinely did everything she could to make the class better for all students considering the circumstances. The material is important to understand and Professor Dugan does a great job explaining it, and if you are ever confused, she is available at office hours and will explain anything as much as you need her to. I definitely recommend taking, if not this class, a class with Professor Dugan.

Honestly, it felt like the class got better when it was put online. She started discussing concepts in smaller chunks which was easier to process. Make sure to take this class with a friend or two - it helps with motivation and problem solving a lot. When making your schedule, there's a weekly assignment due at the lab (which is just a time for you to go in and have the TA check your homework). You can also go to OH beforehand and get checked off without going to lab!

It's an interesting course and Dugan does a great job at lecturing and making things enjoyable. Although the quizzes and sometimes hard exams and studios can be intimidating, this course over all is not a hard course at all. It is not difficult to get an A as long as you put in work. There are many chances to recover from bad quizzes and tests. For example, she only keeps the top 10 quiz scores but there are usually like 15-17 quizzes. So do not feel bad if you bombed a quiz. The same goes for the exams: she allows the final to replace the average of the 3 exams if they are higher. So just make sure you stay on top of things, don't fall behind and put in the work you are supposed to put in and you are good for an A.

Professor Dugan really is the best! Her lectures are fun, interesting, and informative, and her grading policy is very fair. The subject of this class is super interesting, it's easily the best class I've taken at UVA. The concepts can get confusing at times, but with practice they will eventually "click" and become rewarding. The TAs are really great, they're all super helpful and fun people. 100% recommend!

I have mixed feelings about this class. The workload for the class was minimal, as the only required work was usually a just a weekly studio. I found the midterm exams to be frustrating, mainly because 1) 50 minutes was, in my opinion, not enough time and 2) Each question was typically around 20 points (out of 100), so one mistake is very costly. I made stupid mistakes on the first two exams that hurt my exam average pretty badly, but thanks to the dutch elimination, I was able to score a high A in the class. I'm not sure I would take this class if I didn't have to (I'm a CS BS major), but I did learn a lot and Dugan was a very fair professor. My tips to anyone taking this class would be to 1) Choose a studio section later in the week, as you don't always cover the material required for the studios before the first studio 2) Make sure you truly understand the material covered, as everything builds off of previous material 3) Don't give up. The Dutch elimination can seriously save your grade if you need it to. You shouldn't slack off throughout the semester under the assumption that you'll just score high on the final and use the dutch elimination, but 75% of my class ended up using the Dutch Elimination, so interpret that how you want.

This class is a tough class but you learn a lot and you are definitely given the resources to succeed. You don't have homework per se but you have a Studio due every week that you should definitely finish beforehand. They're almost always easy 100s as long as you put in the effort and your studios make up 25% of your grade so thats nice. There are occasional "explorations" which make up another 10% of your grade which aren't too bad either although I think she forgot to give us explorations throughout the year and realized we needed something in the grade book so she threw like 4 of 'em at us in 2 weeks near the end of the semester which wasn't fun. Tests are kinda lame and really hit or miss for a lot of people and since you only get 50 minutes for them you're hoping she doesn't throw a curveball too hard at ya. Averages for tests my year were always 70s but she does Dutch Knockout with the Final so that saves a lot of people. There are quizzes every Friday with pop quizzes sprinkled in on Mon and Wed so you should show to every class because sometimes she literally gave you a 100 on a quiz for showing up. I'd also recommend doing well on the quizzes earlier in the year because they can get a bit difficult later on. She only takes the top 10 quizzes tho and we had quite a few at the end of the semester so that's great. Dugan definitely knows her stuff and its a good class overall and this is your best bet at filling your CS, ECE, CE requirement.

Professor Dugan was a great Professor, she heads the ECE department and definitely knows her stuff. But I really just did not enjoy this course because learning this material was just really challenging for me and only took this class because it was required for a CS major in the E school. Also, Dugan's teaching style was a little fast and since my comprehension of these topics were just not very solid, I did end up struggling really hard in this course. I can see why this course is related to BSCS but still, it was not a fun time for me.
But, I love Dutch Knockout because it really came in clutch. Also Dugan drops a lot of quizzes to give you some leeway. I had a 73 average on my tests and a 63 average on my quizzes but after quiz drops, I had a 93 on quizzes and since I studied so hard for the final (cuz I needed it), I got a 94 on the final, leading me to get an A in the class. Hard hard class, especially for me, but Dugan makes it possible to change your grade if you really put in the effort which is something I really appreciate.

Dugan could probably teach this class in her sleep by now, but it shows in the best of ways: she's experienced and knows how to explain things, while still staying engaged with each new class. This class starts out pretty easy and intuitively but gets more difficult, especially once you get into some of the overarching concepts. Labs/studios are easy points (and a huge portion of your grade...) but can be time-consuming, especially because you're not allowed to work together on them. Quizzes get hard really fast but there are a lot of them, and some of them are just attendance, so it's not hard to get 10 high quiz grades. Tests are high-stakes and I did amazingly well on the first two but bombed the last one; some of the test questions can be difficult, and since there aren't many questions messing up even one really screws you over. Luckily, the Dutch Knockout is super helpful (you can replace your test average with the grade of the final). I found the final pretty easy and came out with an A in the class even though I had a B- test average. Super interesting class with one of the most interesting E school professors!

Dugan is a very chill professor who knows her subject well and makes it very understandeable to the kids. This class is like a bridge between CS and CPE and will really get you to decide between the two majors.
+ very intuitive and good notes
+ lots of extra credit opportunities
- quizzes are timed and it is easy to mess up
-1 studio and final exam were TOUGH
The biggest tip: go to the TAs for the quiz review.. This Will Help So Much...

Dugan is something of a god on campus. She's a great teacher who is very experienced in teaching this course and she heads the ECE department. This was my first time seeing boolean logic, muxes, and other low-level circuitry. She does a good job teaching the fundamentals of these topics. Her tests are high-stakes and you better make sure you understand the material. I'm a good student and I bombed one of them. Dutch Knockout saved my ass though.

Joanne Dugan is a fun and cool lady. I wish she were my aunt.
On the whole this class was interesting. Towards the end of the semester I had a hard time focusing on the lectures, but I still did fine in the class.

Professor Dugan knows what she's doing. She has a sense of humor that I definitely appreciated. The studio assignments are straightforward; do them before studio so you can just walk in and check them off (tip: get to studio early to be at the head of the queue). Tests were also fairly straightforward. Granted, you need some creativity when figuring some problems out, but that's the entire course. Go to lecture as you'll sometimes have assignments in class. Don't worry all that much on quizzes (still learn the material of course) because she ends up dropping like 5 of the 15 quizzes. As that might indicate, you have a lot of opportunity to make up points so don't fret if you take one bad quiz. Do your work, pay attention, enjoy the class, and you'll do just fine.

Dugan is a great professor, but this class was my own personal hell as I am CS and not CPE/EE. She's really great and tries to make the class manageable, so just do your best and shoot for a B- if you're CS too. Watch out for the high cutoffs for each grade too. I thought I'd be getting a B+ for an 87.5, but it was really a B because of the way her grade scale works. She doesn't make it clear in the beginning either, so just beware.

Basically: if you're CPE/EE, you'll love this class. If you're CS, good luck and try to survive!

The professor is very engaging and makes the class very interesting. However the material is all cumulative. The class starts off very easy, but don't let that catch you off guard because the difficulty increases quickly. At the end of the course you will be able to design a processor which is pretty cool. Overall, I would highly recommend this course.

When I went to class on the first day I really liked it, that same Friday I took the first quiz and I got a 100, I was happy af. Today is the last day of finals and... I failed the class.

Dugan is a great professor and really makes the class fun. The class is really interesting in that you gradually build a processor from simple transistors, which means it's a very logical curriculum. However, this does mean that you need to have a good knowledge the week's material before you go to class on Monday, since it all builds off itself.

The studios aren't too bad, although a couple of them will take several hours. The way she grades the quizzes means that you have a really good chance of getting points from them-it's nice not to have to worry about every single quiz since they're every week. Explorations are basically your 'homework,' though you should watch out-getting a low grade on a couple of minor explorations can damage your grade significantly.

The tests were pretty stressful and you really need to know what you're doing for those. The final is cumulative, and Dugan does Dutch Knockout, so take advantage of that if you can. Overall, great class.

This class is a good introduction to Digital Logic Design. Some of the material might be a little daunting, but if you go see the TA's you'll be fine.

Absolutely wonderful professor. Dugan is laid back and manages to take you from zero knowledge of logic gates to building a processor pretty comfortably. Labs are relatively easy, and you can usually work with another person on homework.
Tests and quizzes aren't really difficult, but will catch you off guard if you aren't comfortable with the material. So definitely review a little outside of class.

Hands down one of the best courses I have taken at UVA. Dugan really cares about the class, and the TAs were fantastic. By the end of the course, you will understand how to build a simple processor from your detailed knowledge of a lot of different logic components.

There are 5 lab assignments; the first three are built using physical breadboards and logic chips while the last two are built exclusively on the logic simulator software (Logisim). All of the pre-lab work can be done in a day, but the fifth and final lab assignment will take significantly longer to complete than the other labs. The in-lab demonstrations are straightforward and you can usually leave lab early after you show your TA your properly working implementation of the lab. The post-lab report is easy to write and as long as you cover everything on the rubric, you should be well off.

The grading is very fair and Dugan will allow you to override your test average with your final exam score if it is higher, making the final count for 55% of your grade rather than 25%. Only the top 10 quiz grades are kept (about 15-17 quizzes are given).

Going to the TA review sessions is a great source of help for exams, lab assignments, and general questions. Also, Dugan/TAs respond quickly on piazza for any other questions that come up.

The course was very fun overall and has inspired me to apply for a TA position! I cannot recommend it enough.

The Course:
Starting from no assumed knowledge of digital logic, this course provides the necessary knowledge to build a processor. There's a big emphasis on Boolean algebra (particularly simplification with Karnaugh maps), followed by design of larger components (e.g. comparators, registers, etc.)

You have lab every other week (which week depends on your section), and labs have a fairly quick turnaround time. She also assigns "explorations," which are guided experiments/design problems using the Logisim digital logic simulator.

I, personally, found the final to be substantially harder than all the other tests, so don't put off studying.

The Professor:
She's awesome! Professor Dugan is an engaging lecturer, really helpful/approachable in office hours, and takes a genuine interest in her students (which is especially impressive considering the size of the class). She has a relaxed demeanor in class (enough to put students at ease, but still professional) and answers students' questions clearly. I cannot recommend her enough.

Best way to prepare:
Since some people find this course difficult, I thought I'd mention that the book CODE by Charles Petzold covers most of the essentials of this course--unlike a textbook, it can be read without pen/paper in hand. I was "coasting" for much of this class because I read CODE in high school. Knowing what a finite state machine is before the class can help, too. (If you have the Discrete Math book by Epp, skimming the section on automata will give you a big head start.)

Dugan is great both in lecture and office hours. This is definitely a weed-out class for CS and CpE, so if you can get a B or A (which is very doable), you can probably handle either of those majors. The tests were hard, but don't count for all that much of the grade (45% is from labs and explorations). I came away with a very good understanding of the material, which is itself incredibly interesting.

This is a laid-back class; you don't have to do much more than show up to class to get an A. Actually, it's pretty important you show up to class; there are pop quizzes every week and (if you don't get the textbook) there's no way to learn the material other than sitting in class and listening to Dugan go over it seven times. She is a good professor and will take the time to explaining things to the class as a whole or you individually. The midterms are almost identical copies of previous semesters' tests and you can study the night before. Overall, the class was interesting (even to me, BA CS in the CLAS) and worth the low-medium amount of work. My advice: Study for midterms with the old tests and always be ready for a pop quiz.

Easily one of my favorite classes at UVA. Professor Dugan is a pretty good lecturer and is very helpful in general. The labs are easy and not graded all that critically; it's pretty easy to get 100s on many or all of them. Quizzes can be killer, but Professor Dugan drops something like half of the quizzes. Sometimes she has "pop quizzes" because she is annoyed that people don't come to lecture. In these instances, those who attended lecture get a free quiz drop, and those who are absent have no affect to their grade. The TAs for this class are very helpful, and I would recommend going to the weekly discussion or office hours if there is anything you don't understand.

Good professor, but labs are a bit tedious. An A is definitely doable if you are willing to put in the effort.

Dugan is an all around good professor.

If you stay on top of this class from day 1, even though it starts out very slow, you will succeed. It is easy if you keep up with the material. Dugan does not do a good job of teaching the class, so office hours are helpful and a lot of it is teaching yourself.

Professor Dugan is the one to take this class from. Her tests are very fair and the grading system is designed to ensure that your grade really does reflect your knowledge and growth in a way that best suits your GPA. The material gets pretty specific, especially near the end, make sure that if you ever don't understand something you go to office hours as EVERYTHING in this course builds on itself. If you don't have good grounding the later material is rough, otherwise you're fine.

Professor Dugan is one of my favorite professors in the E-School. I like her teaching style of taking notes, doing independent/group in class problems, and immediately going over them. She does this at a high pace, so it does not get boring. Also, everything is straightforward. She tells you what you need to know for the test, and just does a little twist on the test to see if you understand the concepts. Definitely a worthwhile course, but unfortunately I hear Dugan will not always teach it in the future.

Dugan is a good professor. The material isn't too bad as long you keep up and go to most classes. We had 2 midterm exams and a final--if you did better on the final than your midterms then she would replace your midterm grades with your final.

Class: It was pretty easy in the beginning, but the latter material definitely built on itself, so it was essential to keep up (which I didn't do a very good job of doing). I often came to class thinking wtf is this!? etc, etc.

Professor: Dugan - I'm pretty sure, at least - helped found the CPE department, so she definitely knows her stuff. She gives a lot of handouts and instead of truly lecturing (like other professors), she instead works through practice problems (which are old test problems) to get her points across, which is certainly helpful.

Homework/Quizzes: There's weekly homework problem sets, but they aren't turned in. Instead there's a weekly quiz on Mondays, which is pretty agonizing. However, she only keeps the highest 10 quiz grades and you take way more than 10 (inclusive of extra chances like take home quizzes).

Labs: There's only like 5 labs and the first 2 or 3 are pretty easy. The latter are sort of ridiculous. Oh, and you have to turn in 3-5 page lab reports, but they aren't bad when you include the prelab and a lot of diagrams.

Midterms/Final: The first one was pretty easy, I bombed the crap out of the second one, and I studied my ass off for the final since its grade could replace the average of your midterms (I think that's what the deal was).

Overall, it was a pretty interesting class and definitely essential for any CPE major or any EE wanting to go into computer hardware (like myself). I ended up with a B, but it's definitely easy to get an A if you keep up.

Dugan really does care that you learn the material. She won't hold your hand, but when you need help she has plentiful office hours. The initial labs are fairly easy, but get harder as you go on. Make sure to keep up with her class handouts as if you lose focus, it's easy to lose track of what's going on. She gives out tons of quizzes, so don't be worried to get a 0/10 on some. Focus on tests/the final, as they make up your grade significantly.

Dugan cares how her students are doing and wants to help you learn. Class can get a bit boring at times, but she's a good teacher.

Labs: Easy, takes very little time, almost everyone gets 100%.
Quizzes: Every Monday, relatively simple quizzes. There are some pop quizzes, in which she gives you easy 100% if you show up for class. There are about 20ish quizzes in total, but she takes the best 10. She gave my class about 6 pop quizzes, so basically we only needed to get 4 perfect quiz grades ourselves. Really easy.
Midterms: There are 3 of them. It feels like someone else is writing the exams. The averages are lower than she wants it, and she blames us for not getting the questions right.
Final: If your final grade is higher than the average of your midterms, then your final grade will replace your midterms.
Professor Dugan is really a horrible professor. She doesn't really teach, and is really lazy. The material is so easy, but the exam questions sometimes makes it feel like we didn't learn anything. A lot of people skip class, but you shouldn't do that because you can get free quiz grades, just by being there.

Dugan is definitely overrated. She's not bad, but she comes off as a better teacher because the class is so easy. I found that she is pretty bad at explaining problems conceptually. The labs are easy (and fun), almost everyone gets 100s. The quizzes aren't bad and you have many chances to get good grades (she even gives out attendance quizzes where you can get a 100% just by showing up). The tests, however, were harder than I expected. The averages were lower than she wanted and tried to blame it on the class rather than herself. I'd recommend this class because it's not difficult at all.

Great Class Dugan is a great teacher and is very knowledgeable. She gives you lots of quizzes (almost 17 of them) and only takes yours highest 10.

nice and fair instructor, very knowledgable

Dugan is a solid and interesting teacher teaching a decent course. Almost every question on the tests comes from the homework. The homework isn't graded so no one does it. Weekly quizzes.

Professor Dugan is very approachable. Her lectures were interesting and very useful. The quizzes, labs, and homework (homework was not graded) were pretty easy and her lectures were pretty easy to follow. However, she didn't lecture in a way that prepared you for her exams. She simplified everything for the lectures, quizzes, and homework, and then gave extremely complicated problems on the exams. It was as if another professor was writing the exams. The grades for our exams were really varied. On the first exam, 12 students got above a 90, while 15 got below a 60. The average was a 76.