Decoding Student Satisfaction: How to Manage and Improve the Laboratory Experience

Abstract

, "Decoding student satisfaction: how to manage and improve the laboratory experience," IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. 58, (3) pp. 151-1588Education, vol. 58, (3) pp. 151- , 2015 Decoding student satisfaction: how to manage and improve the laboratory experience AbstractThe laboratory plays an important role in teaching engineering skills. An Electrical Engineering department at an Australian University implemented a reform to monitor and improve student satisfaction with the teaching laboratories. A Laboratory Manager was employed to oversee the quality of 27 courses containing instructional laboratories. Student satisfaction surveys were carried out on all relevant laboratories every year, and the data were used for continuous improvement. This paper will investigate the reforms that were implemented and outline a number of the improvements made. It also examines the program's overall impact on: 1) overall satisfaction; 2) laboratory notes; 3) learning experiences; 4) computer facilities; 5) engineering equipment; and 6) condition of the laboratory. Student satisfaction with the laboratories increased by 32% between 2007 and 2013. The results show that the laboratory notes (activity and clarity) and the quality of the equipment used are among the most influential factors on student satisfaction. In particular, it is important to have notes or resources that explain in some detail how to use and troubleshoot equipment and software used in the laboratory. This article has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of this journal. Content is final as presented, with the exception of pagination. Abstract-The laboratory plays an important role in teaching engineering skills. An Electrical Engineering department at an Australian University implemented a reform to monitor and improve student satisfaction with the teaching laboratories. A Laboratory Manager was employed to oversee the quality of 27 courses containing instructional laboratories. Student satisfaction surveys were carried out on all relevant laboratories every year, and the data were used for continuous improvement. This paper will investigate the reforms that were implemented and outline a number of the improvements made. It also examines the program's overall impact on: 1) overall satisfaction; 2) laboratory notes; 3) learning experiences; 4) computer facilities; 5) engineering equipment; and 6) condition of the laboratory. Student satisfaction with the laboratories increased by 32% between 2007 and 2013. The results show that the laboratory notes (activity and clarity) and the quality of the equipment used are among the most influential factors on student satisfaction. In particular, it is important to have notes or resources that explain in some detail how to use and troubleshoot equipment and software used in the laboratory.

Medical Engineering Education based on the Spiral Approach

“…Furthermore, implementing this approach would contribute to an environment that challenges both students and lecturers. Similar to other programs, here also, the cooperation of the academic staff contributes achieving the goals of the program [19], [20]. By doing so, an ME program would achieve the vision of training engineers who will be able to provide technological solutions to medical problems, and who will integrate well into the ME industry as well as into the academy.…”

Understanding How Students Use and Appreciate Online Resources in the Teaching Laboratory

“…In engineering, the laboratory plays an important role in developing students' skills and knowledge [1][2][3]. The teaching laboratory can be a place to conduct physical experiments [4][5][6], learn via simulation [7][8][9], or experiment with real hardware in a virtual laboratory [10,11].…”

“…The teaching laboratory can be a place to conduct physical experiments [4][5][6], learn via simulation [7][8][9], or experiment with real hardware in a virtual laboratory [10,11]. The teaching laboratories provide for learning in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains [12] with the experience of using and understanding engineering equipment an asset for the student experience [1,13]. Therefore, it is a benefit for engineering departments to provide a great laboratory learning experience.…”

“…This includes the ease of searching with Google, or the millions of available videos on YouTube and other specialty sites. As examples, multimedia technology has been shown to improve the student learning experience in a telecommunications laboratory [14], a physics laboratory [20], across a range of courses [1], and it has also been shown as a valuable resource for teaching programming [21].…”

Factors Impacting on Student Retention –A Study at Indian University

“…REVIEW OF LITERATURE Nikolic. S. et al [4] illustrated the role of laboratory in teaching engineering courses. 27 courses were taken into account and results were analyzed on various parameters that included overall satisfaction rate, laboratory notes, computer facilities, learning experiences and the overall quality of the laboratory.…”