Pretty difficult with just one MCU class one semester just my 2 cents. Only those motivated to do more will learn more.
Well, you've got to look at the whole program before getting the idea that it's only one semester. Start with the freshman level intro to engineering where they'll do a project from a kit or an arduino project, add in a semester of programming and another of data structures, progress through the circuits and electronics labs where they play with resistors and power supplies and transistors, go through logic where they see gates and FPGAs, spend a semester in the embedded systems course, and finish off with a semester or two of senior design where they'll do something a bit more sophisticated, and they have a chance to come away with a reasonable education, especially given that they have to take literature and history and other non-technical stuff as well.
As for side projects for the motivated, we've got a student club building a satellite. Delivery for payload integration on April 1, launch currently scheduled for mid-July.
-j