Hybrid approach for e-learning in Electric and Electronic Circuits laboratory courses

The rapid transition to remote teaching in the spring of 2020 posed particular challenges for laboratory courses, which often involve students working hands-on with equipment in collaborative environments. Replicating in-person experiments was especially challenging for advanced lab courses that utilize specialized apparatus, which could not be accessed by students at home. However, physics lab instructors employed a variety of creative strategies to overcome these barriers and provide students access to lab-like learning in a remote setting. We report on one advanced lab course that used the transition to remote teaching to completely redefine the course goals and transition from traditional prescriptive labs to more open-ended projects. We conduct a case study analysis, triangulating among several data sources-survey responses and interviews from both instructor and students-to construct an in-depth understanding of the remote course and how students experienced it. Although we cannot necessarily generalize the results of this analysis to the entire student experience in the course due to the student response rate, the feedback that the course did receive from both students and the instructor was overwhelmingly positive, and the instructors are planning to retain the open-ended projects when the course returns to an in-person format. We find that the new open-ended projects afforded students opportunities to make decisions and think deeply about their experiments, which students report as contributing to their enjoyment and satisfaction with the course. Students had mixed group work experiences, with some describing positive and meaningful interactions and others describing group work as a source of frustration and stress. Additionally, some students missed being able to work hands-on with equipment, and some reported a high workload that made the course stressful. We discuss these student experiences and provide implications for both in-person and remote lab courses.

This study is an implementation of information technology for education, aimed to produce a model of online lab course with a collaborative environment using a desktop sharing application. In the digital electronics lab course, participants were divided into the groups, each of them consists of three members. A desktop sharing application was used to the digital circuit simulator as an offline program that can be accessed online. The results show that the application can be used to introduce a collaborative environment in an online lab course. The application was possible to make an offline program such of a digital circuit simulator that can be accessed online by each member of the groups. This model has got a positive response from the participants of digital electronics lab course.

Computer Simulation as Preparation for Electronics Laboratory

This paper describes a practical case study on the benefits and feasibility of a virtual laboratory as a part of chemistry laboratory exercises. Three different objectives that must fit together to create an efficient Virtual Reality (VR) learning experience were found: relevant information content, learning design, and technical feasibility. To achieve these multidisciplinary goals, a simple framework for designing VR learning materials was created. A 360-VR version of a chemistry laboratory exercise was designed and created following this framework. Data on its effectiveness was collected on a laboratory course with over 150 first-year chemical engineering students. The students completed the same laboratory exercise both as a virtual laboratory and in a real student laboratory. In the student feedback, students clearly stated that virtual laboratories cannot replace the experience in a real laboratory, and that the virtual laboratory exercises did not directly increase student motivation. Nevertheless, students showed a very positive attitude towards virtual learning materials and suggested including even more activating materials such as quizzes and interactive videos in the learning materials. Only a few students reported any downsides related to the virtual laboratory exercise. Overall, it was shown that our design principles work in practice as the students reported several real benefits when they completed a virtual laboratory exercise before the real-life laboratory exercise. These benefits included learning the correct way that the laboratory exercise proceeds and how to perform certain tasks correctly.

InfoMetricsFiguresRef. Analytical ChemistryVol 92/Issue 15Article This publication is Open Access under the license indicated. Learn More CiteCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore citation options ShareShare onFacebookX (Twitter)WeChatLinkedInRedditEmailJump toExpandCollapse EditorialJuly 24, 2020Teaching Analytical Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19Click to copy article linkArticle link copied!Lane A. BakerLane A. BakerMore by Lane A. Bakerhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-5127-507XAnna G. CavinatoAnna G. CavinatoMore by Anna G. CavinatoOpen PDFAnalytical ChemistryCite this: Anal. Chem. 2020, 92, 15, 10185–10186Click to copy citationCitation copied!https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c02981https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c02981Published July 24, 2020 Publication History Published online 24 July 2020Published in issue 4 August 2020editorialCopyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissionsACS PublicationsCopyright © 2020 American Chemical SocietySubjectswhat are subjectsArticle subjects are automatically applied from the ACS Subject Taxonomy and describe the scientific concepts and themes of the article.Analytical chemistryCross-disciplinary conceptsMaterialsStudentsTeaching and learning methodsThe best-planned syllabus was not ready for the Spring 2020 semester, and now the Fall 2020 semester approaches with a palpable sense of unease. Should we prepare for in-person, online, or hybrid teaching? – the answer is "yes". Fortunately, we have the benefit of lessons from last semester, and an understanding that no matter how we prepare, agility is a necessity. Chemical educators are working hard to develop resources and prepare contingency plans. (1) With this in mind, the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry reached out to faculty in the analytical community to discuss their views, plans for the Fall and to learn about resources, like the Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL), (2) that can help.While in-person classes are preferable, remote teaching can be a manageable alternative. Synchronous delivery of lectures provides opportunities to engage students using current best-practices in teaching. Jill Robinson (Indiana University) and Tom Wenzel (Bates College) found clever routes to use active learning in their virtual classrooms. Modern video conferencing and course management systems allow for random or instructor-assigned groups in breakout rooms. Robinson used the polling tool in Zoom to assess her students' understanding of problems. When large numbers of students found a problem challenging, breakout rooms provided for lively group discussions. As assessing student understanding is key, in smaller classes, individual students report out on group discussions and compare their answers to other groups. In larger classes, a group reporter enters answers into Chat, allowing the instructor to identify student misconceptions and provide specific feedback during whole-class discussion. A rich active-learning community on the ASDL provides many exercises and questions suitable for small discussion groups. (3)For David Harvey (DePauw University), the rapid shift in March 2020 from working with students in person versus at distance was jarring. Although not easy, the transition for lecture classes was relatively straightforward. This was not the case for lab work. Harvey noted, "Making measurements takes time, but if we cannot at this moment be in the lab, then we can capture that time and use it in different ways. Using an instrument simulator, for example, we can have students approach a new topic virtually—exploring how an instrument's settings affect the data we collect—and then in class working to understand the relationship between those settings and the data." Chris Harrison of San Diego State University shared similar sentiments, stating "Come Fall, the big challenge will be finding a way to meaningfully train and reinforce the lab skills that we expect for students in analytical chemistry. With less than half the regular lab time, I am aiming to teach my students the most important skills for an analytical lab, supplementing typical labs that are missed with take-home kits and simulated lab data." Augustus Way Fountain of the University of South Carolina concurred, expressing, "I think we can safely say that lecture and recitation can be replaced with an online experience. However, the laboratory is where I have my greatest concern." This Spring, Fountain found that the best approach was to record himself performing the laboratories, providing students with the data for them to analyze and report on. Fountain added, "Chemistry is as much hands-on laboratory skill as it is book knowledge. We can't replicate the full laboratory experience remotely. Addressing this gap is where we really need to place our emphasis for labs in the Fall."One promising way to address the need for authentic hands-on lab experiments is to use research technologies, such as microfluidics, to safely deliver the lab experiences at home. In the MICRO project, (4) funded by HHMI, a collaboration between Skidmore College, Notre Dame, Oregon State, and University of Iowa, Kimberley Frederick and colleagues are developing laboratories that make use of paper microfluidic devices to deliver experiments that teach titrations, colorimetry, electrochemistry, and separations. Because the technology is inexpensive, safe, and rapid, students can have more autonomy to learn experiment development skills than they would in a traditional lab format and thus the laboratories are designed to be more inquiry-based. As Frederick stated, "Because of their flexibility, we are hopeful that microfluidic-based labs will do an even better job than some of the traditional glassware-based experiments for teaching our students how real analytical method development is done and will be useful beyond the pandemic crisis we are currently in".Thomas Spudich (Maryville University) noted, "We all have different constraints placed on us by our institutions, and there won't be a one-size-fits-all solution. But, generally, we need to be able to adapt lab experiments for implementation at home." Tom described an effort at ASDL, which includes several contributors to this editorial, to share laboratories and simulations that can be completed remotely. Supporting documents and handouts will allow for easy adoption and adaptation. The ASDL remote laboratories community (5) will eventually provide materials for general chemistry and high school chemistry and moderated discussion forums for educators as well.Equity and engagement are critical aspects to consider when developing online laboratories. For Anna Cavinato (Eastern Oregon University) teaching General Chemistry lab was the most challenging. Cavinato was able to adapt a module she had previously published in the ASDL, (6) which provides experiments and data sets for nitrates, phosphates, and metals in water. As she reflects on her experience, Cavinato noted that a major challenge for her students was Internet access and encourages considering infrastructure limitations in rural areas so all students have an equal and inclusive remote educational experience. Engaging students under these circumstances can be difficult. Joel Destino (Creighton University) said, "While teaching last Spring, I wanted to see what kind of chemical analysis students could do at home. One student completed an optional assignment by developing an absorption-based external calibration method using a smartphone camera, kitchen utensils, food dye solutions, and image analysis software. Their results were encouraging, demonstrating the basics of method development can be taught with at-home experimentation."For the Fall 2020 semester, Joel and colleague Erin Gross are planning for a mix of at-home and traditional experiments for their Instrumental Laboratory course. Gross said, "We developed experiments that could be adapted for a portable, at-home kit experiment or project, centered on safe, real-life samples. One example is an amperometric glucose determination. (7) Electrochemical glucometers with a package of test strips can be purchased for under $20." Gross noted this material will be available at the new ASDL remote lab portal.In the coming semester, we have a chance to address some of the shortcomings encountered last Spring, but challenges remain. Striking a balance between the right content and constraints posed by remote learning is critical. Flexibility and awareness of how students learn best with resources they can access will be key to an engaging learning experience. Viable remote surrogates for the laboratory experience remain the most pressing need. The proverb–necessity is the mother of invention–feels especially apt for analytical laboratories. Fortunately, we do not need to invent alone. ASDL is a resource to keep in mind, and contributing to the remote laboratories project at ASDL, or engaging in discussion forums, is welcome. As we collectively prepare for Fall 2020, feel free to contact the sources in this editorial or the Division if we can help or answer questions.Author InformationClick to copy section linkSection link copied!Corresponding AuthorLane A. Baker, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, Past-Chair, http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5127-507XAuthorAnna G. Cavinato, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry, SecretaryNotesViews expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.ReferencesClick to copy section linkSection link copied! This article references 7 other publications. 1Holme, T. A. Journal of Chemical Education Call for Papers: Special Issue on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19. J. Chem. Educ. 2020, 97, 1226– 1227, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00378 Google Scholar1Journal of Chemical Education Call for Papers: Special Issue on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19Holme, Thomas A.Journal of Chemical Education (2020), 97 (5), 1226-1227CODEN: JCEDA8; ISSN:0021-9584. (American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.) The Journal of Chem. Education announces a call for papers for an upcoming special collection of Communications on Insights Gained While Teaching Chem. in the Time of COVID-19. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3cXnvFCnu7c%253D&md5=1d540dec266974610c6df0f85af21cc72 Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL) Home Portal. https://home.asdlib.org/ (accessed 2020-06-11).Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.3 ASDL Active Learning Curricular Materials. http://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/ (accessed 2020-06-11).Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.4 MICRO Engaged Lab Learning. http://sites.google.com/view/microproject/home (accessed 2020-06-11).Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.5 Remote Labs and Simulations. http://remotelabs.asdlib.org.Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.6Cavinato, A. G.; Antell, K. End Creek: Spotted Frogs and Aquatic Snails in Wetlands – A Water Quality Investigation. Analytical Sciences Digital Library , 2018, http://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/end-creek-spotted-frogs-and-aquatic-snails-in-wetlands-a-water-quality-investigation/.Google ScholarThere is no corresponding record for this reference.7Wang, J.; Macca, C. Use of blood-glucose test strips for introducing enzyme electrodes and modern biosensors. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 797– 800, DOI: 10.1021/ed073p797 Google Scholar7Use of blood-glucose test strips for introducing enzyme electrodes and modern biosensorsWang, Joseph; Macca, CarloJournal of Chemical Education (1996), 73 (8), 797-800CODEN: JCEDA8; ISSN:0021-9584. (Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society) Students were introduced to modern biosensors technol., and in particular disposable screen-printed glucose strips. Glucose-contg. com. (mostly food and drink) samples were analyzed by the method. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADyaK28XkslymsLk%253D&md5=ac2ef104ef1203e3042aecdfd48d5784Cited By Click to copy section linkSection link copied! This article is cited by 10 publications.Paulo R. M. Correia, Ian M. Kinchin, Thiago R. L. C. Paixão. Threshold Concepts as a Missing Piece Needed to Frame Teaching in Analytical Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education 2023, 100 (4) , 1419-1425. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00376Lukas Groos, Kai Maass, Nicole Graulich. Mimicking Students' Behavior during a Titration Experiment: Designing a Digital Student-Centered Experimental Environment. Journal of Chemical Education 2021, 98 (6) , 1919-1927. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00253Joseph A. Loo. For the Love of Analytical Instruments. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry 2020, 31 (9) , 1773-1774. https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.0c00304Amanda Nelms, Sally Barton-Arwood. Fostering a Sense of Belonging. 2024, 13-32. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-1269-8.ch002Radek Chalupa, Karel Nesměrák. Chemophobia and practical chemistry: the laboratory as a place of origin or, on the contrary, suppression of the fear of chemistry?. Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly 2023, 154 (9) , 957-965. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00706-023-03098-9Eshani N. Lee, Schetema Nealy, Laura Cruz. Navigating the interlanguage space: Chinese international students' perceptions of a virtual chemistry laboratory course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice 2023, 24 (2) , 674-687. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RP00145DYuxin Xue, . A Review of Higher Education Students' Online Engagement Under The COVID-19 Pandemic. SHS Web of Conferences 2023, 157 , 02003. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202315702003Xiaofang Zeng. Virtual Caring in Education. 2022, 40-58. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-8407-4.ch003Laura J. Schnell, Gavin L. Simpson, Danae M. Suchan, William Quere, Harold G. Weger, Maria C. Davis. An at‐home laboratory in plant biology designed to engage students in the process of science. Ecology and Evolution 2021, 11 (24) , 17572-17580. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8441Jake Stanley Bobowski. Hydraulic Analogues Illustrating the Charging of a Capacitor and Ohm's Law: Labs for Online Learning Environments. The Physics Teacher 2021, 59 (7) , 560-565. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0038966Download PDFFiguresReferences Get e-AlertsGet e-AlertsAnalytical ChemistryCite this: Anal. Chem. 2020, 92, 15, 10185–10186Click to copy citationCitation copied!https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c02981Published July 24, 2020 Publication History Published online 24 July 2020Published in issue 4 August 2020Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under these Terms of Use. Request reuse permissionsArticle Views8078Altmetric-Citations10Learn about these metrics closeArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated.Recommended Articles FiguresReferencesThis publication has no figures.References This article references 7 other publications. 1Holme, T. A. Journal of Chemical Education Call for Papers: Special Issue on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19. J. Chem. Educ. 2020, 97, 1226– 1227, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00378 1Journal of Chemical Education Call for Papers: Special Issue on Insights Gained While Teaching Chemistry in the Time of COVID-19Holme, Thomas A.Journal of Chemical Education (2020), 97 (5), 1226-1227CODEN: JCEDA8; ISSN:0021-9584. (American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.) The Journal of Chem. Education announces a call for papers for an upcoming special collection of Communications on Insights Gained While Teaching Chem. in the Time of COVID-19. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADC%252BB3cXnvFCnu7c%253D&md5=1d540dec266974610c6df0f85af21cc72 Analytical Sciences Digital Library (ASDL) Home Portal. https://home.asdlib.org/ (accessed 2020-06-11).There is no corresponding record for this reference.3 ASDL Active Learning Curricular Materials. http://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/ (accessed 2020-06-11).There is no corresponding record for this reference.4 MICRO Engaged Lab Learning. http://sites.google.com/view/microproject/home (accessed 2020-06-11).There is no corresponding record for this reference.5 Remote Labs and Simulations. http://remotelabs.asdlib.org.There is no corresponding record for this reference.6Cavinato, A. G.; Antell, K. End Creek: Spotted Frogs and Aquatic Snails in Wetlands – A Water Quality Investigation. Analytical Sciences Digital Library , 2018, http://community.asdlib.org/activelearningmaterials/end-creek-spotted-frogs-and-aquatic-snails-in-wetlands-a-water-quality-investigation/.There is no corresponding record for this reference.7Wang, J.; Macca, C. Use of blood-glucose test strips for introducing enzyme electrodes and modern biosensors. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 797– 800, DOI: 10.1021/ed073p797 7Use of blood-glucose test strips for introducing enzyme electrodes and modern biosensorsWang, Joseph; Macca, CarloJournal of Chemical Education (1996), 73 (8), 797-800CODEN: JCEDA8; ISSN:0021-9584. (Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society) Students were introduced to modern biosensors technol., and in particular disposable screen-printed glucose strips. Glucose-contg. com. (mostly food and drink) samples were analyzed by the method. >> More from SciFinder ®https://chemport.cas.org/services/resolver?origin=ACS&resolution=options&coi=1%3ACAS%3A528%3ADyaK28XkslymsLk%253D&md5=ac2ef104ef1203e3042aecdfd48d5784

In this exploratory qualitative study, we describe instructors' self-reported practices for teaching and assessing students' ability to troubleshoot in electronics lab courses. We collected audio data from interviews with 20 electronics instructors from 18 institutions that varied by size, selectivity, and other factors. In addition to describing participants' instructional practices, we characterize their perceptions about the role of troubleshooting in electronics, the importance of the ability to troubleshoot more generally, and what it means for students to be competent troubleshooters. One major finding of this work is that, while almost all instructors in our study said that troubleshooting is an important learning outcome for students in electronics lab courses, only half of instructors said they directly assessed students' ability to troubleshoot. Based on our findings, we argue that there is a need for research-based instructional materials that attend to both cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of troubleshooting proficiency. We also identify several areas for future investigation related to troubleshooting instruction in electronics lab courses.

For enhanced education at the level of University courses such as those in biology or biotechnology, one of the key elements is the need of time and expertise to allow the student to familiarize laboratory techniques in par with regular theory. The Sakshat Amrita virtual biotechnology lab project focusing on virtualizing wet-lab techniques and integrating the learning experience has added a new dimension to the regular teaching courses at the University. Establishing virtual labs requires both domain knowledge and virtualizing skills via programming, animation and device-based feedback. Challenges in the biotechnology sector in setting up a laboratory that integrates both the feel and phenomenon includes the medley of multiple techniques. This paper reports one such cost-effective process used in virtualizing a real biotechnology lab at the University-level. The major challenge in setting up an effective knowledge dissemination for laboratory courses was not only the scientific approach of biotechnology, but included the virtualization aspects such as usage/design scalability, deliverability efficiency, network connectivity issues, security and speed of adaptability to incorporate and update changes into existing experiments. This paper also discusses an issue-specific case-study of a functional virtual lab in biotechnology and its many issues and challenges.

A new remote laboratory system for learning hardware design and experiment of digital circuit has been developed. It employs shared resources and an e-learning system based on the top-down method specializing in the logic circuit design and featuring a quick acquisition of the hardware-description-language-based design skill. The wide use of the Internet motivated us to develop seamless remote and actual hardware laboratories for hardware design laboratory course, and for students to learn the digital circuit design by themselves. The proposed remote laboratory utilizes actual hardware and actual measurement tools in a time-sharing fashion. The combinatorial use of FPGA/PC connected test hardware and PC-based measurement equipments has made it possible to develop a remote multi-user and time-sharing hardware experiment system. As all students are equipped with high-performance Laptop PCs, CPU intensive development tasks can be performed by each student's client PC in a rich-client environment. The prototype the remote-laboratory and self e-learning system are under-construction, and will be used for the third grade CS students from year 2005

At the universities of Dresden, Vienna, and Zagreb, a laboratory course for prospective physics teachers was transferred to an online environment because of the lockdown in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to present and compare students’ and instructors’ considerations about the experiences with this laboratory course at these three universities and to formulate guidelines for organizing lab courses for prospective physics teachers. The research was conducted in three steps: first, interviews were conducted with prospective physics teachers (N = 10); second, an online questionnaire was administered to course participants (N = 99); and third, lab course instructors completed an online questionnaire (N = 8). The results show that an increase in creativity and confidence was expressed when conducting home experiments. Students who received support and guidance benefited more from the online lab course, but some students also experienced a greater time commitment. On a positive note, all participants thought outside-the-box during this lab experience and found solutions that led to new ways of conducting labs. Our study suggests that in future online or regular lab courses, students should have the chance to make decisions about experiments and be creative, with an emphasis on peer discussions and support from instructors.

The use of remote laboratories in courses at university level has been reported in literature numerous times since the mid 90â??s. In this article focus is on activities carried out by teachers and students, at the Upper Secondary School Level, using the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality). The Upper Secondary School, Katedralskolan in Lund, Sweden, cooperate with Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, in a project that concerns the introduction of remote laboratory environment suitable for Upper Secondary School science courses. A remote laboratory in electronics has been introduced and is used as a complement to the traditional workbench in the hands-on laboratory. Significant results from the project are; 1) the great interest shown by the students for the remote experiments, 2) the students appreciation for the fact that it was not simulations but actual real experiments, 3) the remote laboratory is easy to implement for use by both teachers and students and 4) it can be used simultaneously by many students.

Laboratory courses play a pivotal role in higher education, and with emerging technologies transforming instructional practices, virtual laboratories have become an effective supplement to traditional, face-to-face settings. This paper presents a Unity3D-based virtual production line laboratory platform developed under the ADDIE instructional design model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The physical assembly line was replicated in a virtual environment and deployed via WebGL on a custom website, enabling students to engage in experimental learning at any time.Additionally,On the student client, we have visualised PLC programs and designed an image recognition module that enables students to visually verify the correctness of their PLC programs. Implementation with second-year undergraduates demonstrated positive impacts on academic performance.

Electronic laboratory courses offer the possibility to introduce some specific and transversal skills to the curriculum of the students who follow an engineering degree. This paper examines the methodology and assessment which are applied in the laboratory course of the subject "Electronic Systems" in the second year course in the Telecommunication Engineering degree from the Castelldefels School of Technologyy (Escola Politècnica Superior de Castelldefels, EPSC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). During 14 laboratory weekly sessions of 2 h, students must analyze and design the analog and digital circuitry for an ultrasound-based distance measurement system, by means of several guided practices. Small groups of two or three students worked on a collaborative way, while the teacher acted as a guide to facilitate project comprehension and knowledge acquisition. The experience we describe corresponds to the Spring term of 2009, a period in which this methodology was applied to two small class groups of about 23 and 7 students respectively. This work studies the influence of the initial characteristics of the students and their time devoted to prepare the subject, on their academic performance. The paper finishes with a list of recommendations in order to improve students learning process and course assessment.

In general, students of laboratory courses such as chemistry or biology are not able to replicate at home an experiment of a previously studied class since they lack infrastructure and material. With the possibility of providing multimedia and virtual reality environments on the Web, different applications and virtual laboratories have been proposed. However, most of the existing tools are not flexible enough or are domain-oriented, not supporting the addition of new tailor-made experiments when needed. This paper introduces a new platform for providing a customizable Virtual Laboratory, [email protected] This application was proposed at University of Madeira in order to provide students with a flexible 3D virtual laboratory and teachers with a platform that can be customized to new experimental protocols. Therefore, chemistry teachers are able to create their own experimental protocols and propose them to their students. Moreover, students can be followed accordingly having their learning needs and difficulties fulfilled. [email protected] is a solution for motivating students and proposing an added value for complementing laboratory courses.

The present study focuses on real and virtual labs used in unison to teach Physics. Should students be exposed to real experiments first and virtual labs afterwards, or could it be that the reverse is the best educational choice? For the investigation of this research question, the PCB301 mobile lab was used as a basic educational tool. It offers learners both real and virtual lab material, sensors with the data collection software, as well as matched simulations, thus presenting a complete experimental environment, available to be used for the understanding of science concepts. 65 third year High School learners participated, divided in two groups; thirty two for those experimenting first on a real and then on a virtual environment, and thirty three for the group working in the opposite order. The teaching subject under investigation was the study of electric circuits, with a focus on wiring, resistor features, the electric circuit, electric voltage, and the application of Ohm's law. As data research tools the DIRECT assessment was used, as well as semi-conducted interviews that took place at the end of the research activities. The results confirmed that learners' understanding is affected by the order the real and the virtual labs are used in teaching, when addressing this age group and teaching electric circuits.

Today's educational needs require tools with neither geographical nor temporal restrictions. These tools also have to help students to reach the knowledge and provide them with the skills that the labor market demands. To achieve this goal, the technical areas rely on the contribution that laboratory practices provide. However, traditional laboratory practices, carried out in person at the institution, are limited due to the requirements of both their exploitation and their provision. For this reason, educational institutions have opted for remote laboratories (RLs) as the educational tool to provide the benefits of experimentation in real environments, either as an accompaniment to face-to-face activity or as the only mean of experimentation in real environments. Although RLs provide exclusive benefits <<24/7 availability, integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs), etc.>>, they also present limitations derived from the technology involved <<hardware and software>>; PILAR project << Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of VISIR>> was conceived under this premise. PILAR proposes a federation of 5 Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) systems. VISIR is a RL for wiring and measuring electrical and electronics circuits in a simulated workbench. PILAR aims to create a grid of laboratories shared and accessed by all participants, expanding and empowering the existing systems to a new level of service and capacity.