Contribution: The ability to design circuit layouts is a critical component of circuit design. This article presents an approach wherein layout-based design projects can be integrated into the traditional digital integrated circuit (IC) curriculum targeted at large classes and addresses the relevant challenges. Background: Most circuit design curricula cover aspects of layout design and good layout design practices in some detail, but the actual assignment of layout design is done only in classes with restricted sizes due to various factors, including the lack of propriety software, evaluation, or plagiarism detection strategies. Intended Outcomes: To be able to integrate layout-based design projects into the digital IC curriculum targeting large classes. Application Design: Freely available and opensource tools were used for the projects. Additional tool features were repurposed for plagiarism detection. Findings: Feedback collected from the students and quiz performance indicate a marked increase in meeting the learning objectives with the inclusion of layout-based projects. The proposed plagiarism detection strategy successfully identified instances of plagiarism.