Evaluation of Student Preparedness for Returning to In-Person Laboratory Courses

Abstract

Background Prior to the pandemic, remote laboratories were gaining popularity for some universities because they were able to enroll students in laboratory courses while saving money on equipment. However, depending on the resources provided by each university, some students were unable to gain 'hands-on experience.' The Analog Discovery Kit (ADK), a USB connected device, is a useful tool that allows students to work on their laboratory experiments remotely while still having the opportunity to build and test electrical circuits. Unlike simulation only resources, students with USB connected devices still gain hands-on experience in a remote setting. When the pandemic started, transitioning to a remote work environment was no longer an option, but a necessity. A large public university in the eastern United States was able to seamlessly transition from in-person courses to remote electrical engineering laboratory courses during the pandemic because the engineering laboratory experiments had previously been designed to run in both electrical engineering laboratories as well as with a student purchased USB device at home. Students were mailed a few additional electrical components and were able to complete the laboratory experiments from home using the ADK and breadboard while meeting for the laboratory session via Zoom. The combination not only allowed students to still have hands-on learning experiences, but also provided the opportunity to ask questions even amidst the pandemic. As students transition back to in-person laboratory courses, there was a unique opportunity to evaluate student comfort with in-laboratory use of the bench-top equipment after only utilizing simulation along with and the ADK in the fully remote setting.Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the ease of transition for students switching from only using the ADK and building circuits in a remote setting to also using bench-top laboratory equipment at a public facility. MethodThe quantitative study surveyed 227 students from Circuits II, Electronics I, and Electronics II laboratory courses. Students were emailed a survey regarding their experiences returning to in-person laboratory courses. The data was then analyzed using SPSS. ConclusionEighty-two (82%) of participants prefer in-person laboratory courses and a majority of students believed that using the ADK and building and testing circuits remotely helped with the transition back to in-person labs and using bench-top equipment.