Lab@Home: The Open University of Catalonia Hands-on Electronics Laboratory for Online Engineering Education

Abstract

Practical experimentation is essential for electronics learning. As the acquisition of practical and professional competences in full online scenario is concerned, it is very relevant the use of technology that allows students to carry out hands-on experiments. This paper presents Lab@Home, the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC, Barcelona, Spain) hands-on electronics laboratory, which allows online students to carry out practical experiments anywhere and anytime at a reduced cost and with good portability characteristics. Lab@Home features and students satisfaction are analyzed during six consecutive semesters in two different subjects by means of a self-administered questionnaire, showing the benefits of using Lab@Home in the acquisition of the subjects contents and gathering how could be improved students learning experience by using this kind of electronics laboratory.

Bringing active learning, experimentation, and student‐created videos in engineering: A study about teaching electronics and physical computing integrating online and mobile learning

“…As Zawacki-Richter points out [82], the process of digitalization of education was more assimilated and adequate by humanities, cultural studies, linguistics, and natural sciences, but for areas that have a huge portion of laboratory work, for instance, engineering or technology academic programs, the transition to digital learning was hardly feasible due to the complexity, time-consuming, and expensive of this process for HEIs. However, it is worth mentioning that the process of digitalization and transformation of faceto-face courses to online or blended learning modalities started before the pandemic in several HEIs around the world in the field of engineering or computer science [3,18,59,81] and it was reinforced during the pandemic [45,50,55]. Another factor that is important to mention is that during the pandemic the face-to-face courses were quickly adapted to a format of emergency remote teaching (ERT) [10].…”

A Blended On-Campus and At-Home Approach to Laboratories on Electronic Circuits

“…To overcome these drawbacks, take-home laboratories, already-used by online-universities [9], were introduced by several traditional universities as emergency response to Covid-induced lockdowns [10,11]. In general, students reacted very well to this approach, that allowed them not only to perform real-life experiments during the pandemic but also to better manage their learning process, as the laboratory activity was no longer time limited and under peer pressure.…”

Using online to enhance student engagement of design reviews and lessons learned experiences

“…Ensuring that students are engaged in the learning process is important to ensure they remain engaged throughout their engineering careers. Several researchers have been examining different ways of conducting the education online or using online related tools [1][2][3][4][5]. Terkowsky et al [1] and Monzo et al [2] both explored remote access/conduct of labs.…”

“…Several researchers have been examining different ways of conducting the education online or using online related tools [1][2][3][4][5]. Terkowsky et al [1] and Monzo et al [2] both explored remote access/conduct of labs. Ulbrig et al [3] considered using student response systems (such as clickers) for an interactive online element.…”