Texas Instruments Workshops

Texas Instruments brings complete workshops to learn and get familiar with the MCUs. The workshops are modular and organised in chapters, or labs, each one for a specific subject. They make intensive use of the LaunchPads.

The workshop includes all the documentation, with a workbook, a PowerPoint presentation, software, installation files, code and even videos for almost all the chapters. The IDE is Composer Code Studio (CCS) but there's a chapter on Energia for the MSP430.

The requisites for the workshops are limited: some skills in C and a prior experience with micro-controllers, and of course the corresponding LaunchPad. 

Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop

According to the official page, 
The Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad Workshop is an in-depth introduction into MSP430 basics. The LaunchPad is an easy-to-use development tool intended for beginners and experienced users alike for creating microcontroller-based applications.

0. Software Installation Procedures for Workshop Lab Exercises (no video)
1. An introduction to the MSP430 Value Line series of products
2. Introduction to Code Composer Studio IDE
3. Initialization of the MSP430 and programming the GPIO
4. Use of the ADC10 analog-to-digital converter
5. Working with interrupts and the timer
6. Optimizing your code for low-power operation
7. Using serial communications
8. Using the Grace peripheral configuration GUI
9. An overview of FRAM technology (no lab)
10. Learning to use Capacitive Touch (Soon)
11. Using Energia (Arduino for the MSP430) (Soon)

Getting Started with the Stellaris LaunchPad or Tiva C Series TM4C123G Workshop

According to the official page, 
The Getting Started with the Stellaris EK-LM4F120XL or TIVA C Series TM4C123G LaunchPad Workshop is a free, in-depth, hands-on introduction into Stellaris LM4F or Tiva C Series  asics including:

1. Introduction to the ARM® Cortex™-M4F and Peripherals
2. Introduction to Code Composer Studio
3. StellarisWare, Initialization and GPIO
4. Interrupts and the Timers
5. ADC12
6. The Hibernation Module
7. USB
8. Memory
9. The Floating-Point Unit
10. BoosterPacks and the Graphics Library
11. Synchronous Serial Interface (no video)
12. UART (no video)
13. uDMA (no video)

Creating IoT Solutions with the TM4C1294XL Connected LaunchPad Workshop

According to the official page, 
The Creating IoT Solutions with the Tiva C Series Connected LaunchPad Workshop is an in-depth, hands-on introduction into the basics of creating IoT solutions using the EK-TM4C1294XL Connected LaunchPad including:

1. Intro to TM4C Devices, LaunchPad and Cloud Services
2. Intro to Code Composer Studio
3. TivaWare, Initialization and GPIO
4. Ethernet Port
5. Interrupts and the Timers
6. ADC and the Educational Boosterpack
7. I2C, SensorLib and GUI Composer
8. SPI and the QSSI
9. UART
10. USB
11. PWM and QEI
12. Memory, Security and the MPU
13. Floating Point Unit
14. DMA
15. Low Power Modes
16. Graphics Library

My Own Experience

I started the Stellaris LaunchPad Workshop and I'm very happy with the pace of the training. The hands-on approach is perfect for testing the concepts and discovering by myself.

I really like the broad range of concepts and explanations, from MCU architecture to power consumption, from GPIO to IDE. The chapter about GPIO let me understand reading from and writing to ports in parallel mode.

Now, to be truly beneficial, this training needs to be considered as an investment: be ready to free enough time and avoid any distraction. 

Each workshop is on average 12 chapters long. I suggest a 2 hours session for each chapter: 30' for the video and enough time to practice with CCS or Energia. 

So a whole workshop would take 2 weeks to complete and about 24 hours. The reward is worth the pain!