In the EE/CE program I went to, the first class you were required to take was "Intro to Digital Systems". It consisted of a little bit of classroom basics k-maps, binary/hex/octal math, gate logic, etc mixed with a lab that took a breadboard and applied the knowldge you learned in the classroom to make blinky lights/sounds. Not very impressive, but in the course of making the light blink you learn rules for debugging systems that are applicable everywhere (change only one thing, then test after every change, think about what each change means in terms of expected output given an input, etc). If you know how to do basic electronics going in, you have an easy A and a bunch of free time. If you are learning it all for the first time, you probably spend 10-15 hours a week on a 3 hour lab until it clicks.

The class had something like a 90% pass rate so I don't think this is something that can't be taught with a mixture of normal classroom plus TA+Prof help in labs.