Keynote address, International Distance Education Conference, Copenhagen, 2006

Colin Simpson is a Canadian entrepreneur, software developer, and the author of five electronics textbooks, including the bestseller Principles of Electronics. With over 250,000 of his textbooks in print, Dr. Simpson is considered as an expert in the teaching of electronics and electronics simulation technology. He has won numerous awards including the Award of Excellence from the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) ^[1], the TVOntario Lifelong Learning Challenge Award ^[2], and the CODiE Award from the Software Publishers Association. Simpson holds two patents in electronics laboratory simulation and control systems technology, and is recognized as an authority on distance education and the integration of laboratory simulation software. He has been interviewed by the CBC, PBS, CTV, TVOntario, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chicago Tribune, and has lectured at universities around the world. Copenhagen (IPA: or ; Danish: IPA: ) is the capital of Denmark and the countrys largest city. ... For the sequel to the computer game Entrepreneur, which has no article of it own, see The Corporate Machine. ... A software developer is a person who is concerned with one or more facets of the software development process, a somewhat broader scope of computer programming or a specialty of project managing. ... An author is any person(s) or entity(s) that originates and assumes responsibility for an expression or communication. ... Look up expert in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Electronics is the study of the flow of charge through various materials and devices such as, semiconductors, resistors, inductors, capacitors, nano-structures, and vacuum tubes. ... TVOntario, officially the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, is an educational public television broadcaster in the Canadian province of Ontario. ... The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), formerly known as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), is watchdog group that conducts investigations and audits to ferret out unlicensed software. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally maximum 20 years from the filing date, depending on extension). ... Look up simulation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A control system is a device or set of devices that manage the behavior of other devices. ... Authority- is a very talented rocknroll band out of Columbia, S.C. This power rock trio has its roots in rock, funk, hardcore, and a dash of hip hop. ... // Distance Education is a field of expertise exploring situations in which the learner and the teacher are separated in time, space or both. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Computer simulation. ... Not to be confused with Public Broadcasting Services in Malta. ... CTV is a TLA that may stand for: CTV Television Network - a Canadian English language television network Channel Television - the main television broadcaster in the Channel Islands Chukyo TV. Broadcasting - a Japanese TV station in Nagoya This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... TVOntario, officially the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, is an educational public television broadcaster in the Canadian province of Ontario. ... The Globe and Mail is a large Canadian English language national newspaper based in Toronto. ... The Toronto Star is Canadas highest-circulation newspaper, though its print edition is distributed almost entirely within Ontario. ... // The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois and owned by the Tribune Company. ...

During his tenure as an electronics professor at George Brown College in Toronto, Simpson found that students who were financially disadvantaged and unable to purchase electronics simulation software were achieving poorer grades than their counterparts who were able to purchase such products. In response to this unfair situation, Dr. Simpson developed his own electronics circuit simulation, called CircuitLogix and made it available free of charge ^[3] to all students. As a result of using this software students grades improved significantly [1], and it has also removed a very devisive issue from the classroom. To date, over 150,000 students worldwide have downloaded the free version of CircuitLogix and the software is used in more than 1,000 Colleges and Universities. The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... George Brown College (GBC) is a community college with two full campuses, plus a university associate campus, located in Toronto, Ontario. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Computer simulation. ... CircuitLogix is an electronic circuit simulator which utilizes PSpice to allow for the simulation of thousands of electronic devices, models, and circuits. ...

In 1997, Colin Simpson developed the Electronics Technician distance education program, which has since become the largest distance education program of its kind in the world. [2] With over 10,000 students studying electronics at a distance, Simpson has effectively broken down the barriers that prevent students from accessing technical course material on-line. Even more remarkable is the fact that Simpson has broken the gender barrier in the study of electronics. Typically, less than 2% of students who study electronics in Colleges and Universities are female. In Simpson’s electronics distance education program almost 20% of the student’s are female [3], which he attributes to the accessibility of the learning material and the non-threatening environment ^[4] in which it is delivered. Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ... A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellow and still are in some places. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ... // Distance Education is a field of expertise exploring situations in which the learner and the teacher are separated in time, space or both. ...

Books

• Industrial Electronics, Prentice-Hall, 1995, ISBN 0-02-410622-4
  
• Introduction to Electric Circuits and Machines, Prentice-Hall, 1992, ISBN 0-13-473257-X
  
• Lab Manual for Principles of Electronics, Prentice-Hall, 2002, ISBN 0-13-034422-2
  
• Principles of DC/AC Circuits, Prentice-Hall, 1998, ISBN 0-13-373192-8
  
• Principles of Electronics, Prentice-Hall, 2002, ISBN 0-9686860-0-1
  
• Programmable Logic Controllers, Prentice-Hall, 2006, ISBN 0-9686860-3-6
  
• Study Guide to Accompany Principles of Electronics, Prentice-Hall, 2002, ISBN 0-13-034414-1
  

References

1. ^ ACCC document with article regarding Simpson's Electronics Technician distance education program
2. ^ TVOntario Lifelong Learning Challenge Award
3. ^ Web page for the student version of CircuitLogix
4. ^ A. Agogino, Unversity of California at Berkeley, Improving retention of under-represented engineers