Virtual laboratories for electrical engineering students: Student perspectives and design guidelines

Abstract

This research is focused on understanding the role of virtual laboratories and physical laboratories, specifically in the context of the electrical engineering discipline. It is important to emphasize that the research is not aimed at replacing physical laboratories as they form an essential part of the education of electrical engineers, but rather to supplement them using virtual laboratories. In the literature, there are different perspectives on the implementations of virtual laboratories. Virtual laboratories can be effective for students, particularly those with limitations, either physical or timebased, who may have difficulties accessing physical laboratories or scheduling laboratory time. Instructors and technical staff may find virtual laboratories useful, but with additional challenges for set-up, maintenance and integration with coursework. At the university level, there may be cost considerations that affect decisions about supplementing and/or replacing physical laboratories with virtual laboratories. Throughout the literature, there are multiple studies that argue the effectiveness of virtual laboratories is equivalent to learning in the physical laboratory. Disadvantages found included insufficient realism, ineffective groupwork capabilities, maintenance of the systems and a lack of appropriate skill set development for real-world situations. Advantages included flexibility for students, more time for experimentation, fewer overcrowded classroom and lower costs than physical laboratories. There were gaps in the literature identified related to virtual laboratory design, such as consideration for learning objectives as defined by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). A mixed method approach was used in the research that included both qualitative and quantitative methods. A detailed literature review was performed, supplemented by multiple surveys of both students and faculty. A virtual laboratory was designed and implemented using the input of the students to better understand what users desire in their virtual laboratory and students provided helpful input to the development and refinement of the virtual laboratory. The results of surveys, along with findings in the literature and findings from developing and implementing a working virtual laboratory were combined to answer four research questions. These questions were: Research Question 1 – What is the relative capacity of virtual laboratories versus physical laboratories to enable the desired learning objectives of engineering laboratories, especially those viewed as important by students? In this research teamwork and learning from failures were identified as the most important learning objectives. Research Question 2 – Based on a trial virtual laboratory deployment, which design features of a virtual laboratory are important from student perspectives? In this research realism, online tools for communicating with tutors and a preference for real-time interaction were identified important design features. A flexible, and easy-to-use interface was also important. Research Question 3 – What are the advantages and disadvantages of virtual laboratories as a supplement to physical laboratories compared to serving as a replacement for physical laboratories? This research found that students used the virtual laboratories to prepare for exams, as well as prepare for classroom exercises. Students indicated the need to use virtual laboratories to prepare for realworld scenarios where more and more, particularly in hazardous situations, remote access is preferred. There was also a contingent of students who did not want to use the virtual laboratory at all. Research Question 4 – Given the experiences in this trial deployment as well as insights from other virtual laboratory deployments, what is a useful set of design guidelines for virtual engineering laboratories? The design guidelines developed in this research are as follows: • Design Guideline 1 – Enable sharing of knowledge and real-time feedback.• Design Guideline 2 – Enable options for individualized learning and group scheduling.• Design Guideline 3 – Provide consistent and useful responses to errors.• Design Guideline 4 – Provide access to tutors, preferably in real-time.• Design Guideline 5 – Provide additional online help, in the form of tutorials and/or videos.• Design Guideline 6 – Provide realism in the system.• Design Guideline 7 – Ensure that the virtual laboratory supports learning in the physical laboratory.• Design Guideline 8 - Involve students in the design from the beginning.• Design Guideline 9 – Explicitly consider the desired learning objectives in the virtual laboratory design.• Design Guideline 10 – Provide a user interface that is intuitive, simple and easy to use, as well as easy to learn.• Design Guideline 11 – Provide for speed and reliability of the system.This research presents a detailed understanding of the learning objectives, user preferences and uses for virtual laboratories from the perspectives of both students and faculty. In this novel research, design guidelines and a framework for implementation consider the learning objectives and user preferences to help fill the literature gap and provide useful material for future designers.