ABSTRACT
Our practice programs have changed drastically after the appearance of COVID-19. The practical sessions designed for all Automation subjects until 2019 were face-to-face. But the arrival of the pandemic and health restrictions resulted in the closure of our university facilities, which forced us to redo the laboratory experiences. It is in this context that simulation and gamification helped us to move forward, since the solution we followed was the virtualization of the laboratory. Although the degree of satisfaction of the students with the new practical sessions is quite good, the purpose of this paper is not to present a detailed analysis of all the simulation and gamification tools we studied, but to explain what our situation was like before COVID-19, how we faced the change, what we learned in the process, what the new practice programs we are currently following are like, what tools have helped us, and what goals we still have to achieve. We hope that our experience can be useful to other teachers. Copyright © 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
ABSTRACT
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented crisis has been generated in all areas of life. In education, this emergency led to the massive closure of face-to-face activities in educational institutions of all levels to prevent the spread of the virus and mitigate its impact. In response to this situation, nine public research centers of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) of Mexico, CIDETEQ, CIATEJ, CIATEQ, CIESAS, CIMAV, CIO, CIQA, COMIMSA, and ECOSUR, proposed a project through which a set of virtual laboratories would be established, both for teaching and to improve their technological infrastructure for teaching. The project would take advantage of the tools of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) that allow remote access, which is the main challenge to develop educational tools that provide for distance education, and give continuity to graduate programs. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
During the first months of 2020, the world was surprised by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational institutions were partially or fully closed. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies significantly disturbed traditional educational practices. In Mexico, Tecnologico de Monterrey faced one of the most sudden changes in its history, teaching all its courses 100% digitally. Its teachers had to search for alternative tools that would allow students to take practical classes, for example, laboratory, preserving the experience of being in a specialized laboratory even from home. This research evaluated two innovative tools designed and implemented for the Microbiology Laboratory subject. The first one is the Virtual BioLabs (VBL) application for using and managing specialized laboratory equipment. The second is Virtual Journey (VJ), a 360-degree interactive video to explain a foodborne bacterial infection [1]. We used qualitative and quantitative evaluation instruments to measure the impact of these tools during the pandemic. Results showed that the mean grade from pandemic groups using VBL was 93.5 vs. SS.5 obtained from those who did not use the app. Additionally, the grade average from pandemic groups before watching the VJ video was 63.5 vs. 93.5 after watching it. These results indicate that these strategies improved student performance, reflected in the increase in their averages. Finally, in the satisfaction survey, the students commented that using VBL and Virtual Journey made them feel more immersed in the laboratory, even at home. They enjoyed and liked both technical strategies. However, 93% of the students agreed that, although the virtual tools have excellent potential, their preference for face-To-face learning in practical laboratory subjects remains indisputable. © 2023 IEEE.
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Extensive research has demonstrated the importance of e-learning during COVID-19. However, a study to check whether the virus has caused a trend change in educational research lines is lacking. This paper reviews the temporal evolution of publications on virtual laboratories (VLs) in education, analyzing the relationship between its recent boom and the advent of COVID-19. For this purpose, a bibliographic study was carried out in the Scopus database seeking different VLs synonyms in the title, , and keywords of articles published between 1990 and 2022. The analysis results determine that the logistical needs imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have been found to magnify the use of VLs, increasing scientific production by more than 90% in 2021 compared to the average obtained between 2011-2020. It has also been estimated that with the return to face-to-face teaching, production has decreased by 20% in 2022 compared to 2021. © 2023 IEEE.
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Under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an accelerated transition from the traditional form of knowledge transfer to online learning. Our study of 344 automotive students showed that the success of this transition depends on the readiness to introduce special digital tools for organizing knowledge and conducting practical forms of classes. In this regard, a modern digital form of organizing and transferring knowledge to automotive service engineers in the form of virtual laboratories was developed and presented in the article. The work scenarios, functionality, and minimum technical requirements of virtual laboratories as software systems are described and reviewed in the paper. The rationale for the effectiveness of the application, based on the results of using 109 university students in training practice, is presented as a result of the research. An analysis of the distributions of the student survey results and their training progress revealed differences at the p = 0.05 significance level. This confirmed the hypothesis that the use of methods for teaching engineers special disciplines and language skills using VR technologies is much more effective than the traditional one. An increase in students' interest in learning was revealed, and their performance improved markedly. This proves that the immersive nature of VR technology makes it possible to better assimilate the studied material, increase the level of motivation of future car service specialists, and also allow the organization of the transfer of knowledge online. The very process of knowledge transfer becomes the point of acquiring new digital competencies necessary for high-tech industries. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
Due to the impact of Covid-19, many students all over the world have faced some educational issues. Therefore, many educational institutes focused on shifting their learning process to E-learning system. To provide a complete E-learning system, the performing of virtual and remote Laboratory experiments is needed. In this paper, a generic and flexible online authoring tool for the Laboratory Learning System (LLS) is presented. The LLS system is a platform that provides teachers and students with a flexible environment for virtual and remote controlled labs using the proposed authoring tool. The heart of the LLS system is the authoring tool which facilities the ease and flexibility of designing various laboratory experiments which includes a number of pages, and each page has a number of steps with many draggable components. Furthermore, the proposed authoring tool is the first authoring tool that provides general and reusable virtual laboratory resource (VLR) for automatically managing laboratory software and hardware resources. To support the new VRL feature of the authoring tool, the LLS supports the ability to remotely control the laboratory equipment while performing laboratory experiments and also has the capability to run any type of simulation tool for virtually simulated labs. The proposed authoring tool is designed considering all the needed components with well-defined interfaces to achieve an effective and flexible Laboratory learning system. © 2022 IEEE.
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Distance education programs have grown rapidly in recent years and have become even more massive because of the restrictions on movement due to the covid 19 pandemic. The development of information technologies has helped this teaching modality to have good results due to its autonomy and flexibility, however, it has some points of improvement especially in activities of practical nature. Virtual laboratories appear as a tool to support this type of activities. The success of these laboratories depends on several factors, not only imitating a face-to-face laboratory. This article proposes a methodology to guide the process of design and development of immersive experiences that allow the realization of laboratory activities in distance education mode. The objective is to ensure that the development of this type of experience becomes a resource to help the teaching-learning process, ensuring its contribution to the achievement of learning outcomes, allowing the validation of the knowledge acquired by students and helping the professor in the teaching of the course. The proposed methodology considers the opinion of the coordinating committee of the distance education program, students and professors. Its application is presented through a case study of a distance education program of an industrial engineering school in a Chilean university. © 2022 IEEE.
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The integration between virtual learning environments of recognized individual success, such as the PhET project and the Moodle Platform, presents itself as a path to be explored in the context of Instrumental Orchestration (IO), due to the broad benefits that this type of junction can bring to STEM teaching and learning. In this perspective, we conducted a purely interpretive study to investigate the role of IO, in different resources, on the academic success of students in a Bioengineering course, by comparing two activities, corresponding to the extremes of their scores, in electromagnetism laboratory practices, converted to Hybrid Teaching, by means of the COVID19 pandemic. For this, an evaluative framework was built based on the bibliographic reference, which underwent refinements adapting it to the available data, to finally analyze the IO dimensions referring to PhET, Moodle, proposed activities and interactions among participants. The main contribution of the research refers to the need for a better orchestration between simulated activities and laboratory practices, naturally accompanied by more productive interactions. This kind of research also contributes to the elaboration of new pedagogical practices, anchored in facts concerning the different approaches of IO and the way students learn. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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This paper presents the mathematical models for synchronous and asynchronous generators developed in MATLAB App Designer, with the purpose of implementing a virtual laboratory of electrical machines as a teaching tool for engineering students. This tool was needed because of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, and the parameters of existing machines were used to emulate the results expected in the real laboratory. The dynamic events simulation of both the synchronous machine and the asynchronous machine use models implemented in Simulink to get transient responses and the results of each practice are displayed in graphical interfaces. Finally, the main advantages offered by the software and the benefits given to the user in each module are detailed, focused on supporting learning, and reaching the objectives established in each laboratory practice. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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In 1984, the film "The Terminator” predicted that a hostile Artificial Intelligence (AI) will threaten to extinguish humankind by 2029. Even though the real present is quite far from this post-apocalyptic scenario where AI rebels against its creator, a growing concern about the lack of ethical considerations in the use of AI is rapidly spreading, leading to the current "ethics crisis”. The lack of clear regulations is even more alarming considering that AI is becoming an integral part of new educational platforms. This follows the wave of digital transformation mainly induced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with advances in digitalization strategies, and the COVID-19 crisis, which forced education institutions worldwide to switch to e-learning. The appeal of AI is its potential to answer the needs of both educators and learners. For example, it can provide help grading assignments, enable tutoring opportunities, develop smart content, personalize and ultimately boost on-line learning. Although the "AI revolution” has great potential to improve and boost digital education, there are no clear regulations in place to ensure an ethical and fair use of AI. Therefore, this work aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current concerns regarding fairness, accountability, transparency and ethics in AI applied to education, with specific focus on virtual laboratories. The main aspects that this work aims to discuss, and provide possible suggestions for, are: (i) ethical concerns, fairness, bias, equity, and inclusion;(ii) data transparency and digital rights, including data availability, collection, and protection;and, (iii) collaborative approach between disciplines. © 2022 SEFI 2022 - 50th Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education, Proceedings. All rights reserved.
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In university teaching of fluid mechanics, student-led tutorials are often offered in addition to lectures, exercises, and laboratory experiments. In these, students learn collaboratively in small groups by working together on problems and tutors provide assistance. Due to the Corona pandemic, it was necessary to switch to an online format. Students rated the tutorials very highly and slightly better online than on-site. Conducting real and virtual experiments was rated relatively slightly better in the on-site format. A faculty-wide survey comparing different online tutorial formats shows a clear dependence on available hardware. With optimal equipment, collaborative online formats are rated as well as on-site. Perception and implementation thus also clearly depend on the hardware equipment, but more clearly on the educational setting. Students like student tutors best in online formats with the ability to ask live questions. The tutors coped very well with the requirements. Thus, after some initial additional effort due to the technical challenge, an effective replacement for the presence tutorials could be created, which were evaluated as a good starting point. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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One of the critical features of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) education is learning by doing. The rapid upsurge in the use of Internet has drawn attention to the importance of online laboratory-based learning in CSE education. However, bringing such experiences online is challenging. Contextually, enabling online virtual lab-based learning is a modern trend in many educational institutions in India. So, online laboratory-based learning has emerged as a popular area of research among educational-technology researchers. In an online laboratory learning environment, the instructor has a significantly reduced role, and students take increased responsibility for their learning. This shows that in online lab-based learning, the involvement of students is higher. Traditional classroom-based laboratory learning has many limitations. The necessity to engage students in self-learning through online laboratory learning is imminent, as the students get an opportunity to perform their laboratory experiments beyond the classrooms as well, such as at home or when on vacation. In this paper we present the design, architecture, database schema, related technologies, user activities, and the use/reuse aspects of the software engineering virtual laboratory (SE VLab) that we have designed and developed. We also provide the details of each experiment in the SE VLab with examples and the assessment results obtained using the SE VLab. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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In this paper, through the use of laptop/desktop, web-portal, and internet, we have developed and created an environment for implementation of a virtual BEE laboratory and their effectiveness for our 1st year engineering students during Covid-19. The development of a virtual BEE laboratory is not intended to replace the existing physical laboratory rather it is a supplement to it during this pandemic and also proper exploration of the ICT tool. The student's outcome of this virtual lab is elaborated in terms of assessment and examination marks. It is observed from the outcome that the student's performance is enhanced in terms of efficiency and efficacy, when they are taught through the virtual laboratory during the pandemic. © 2022 IEEE.
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The field of education technology, and related subject areas attendant to it, welcomed millions of new participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNESCO, the education experiences of more than 1.4 billion students were disrupted in ways that will impact them, and those around them, for years to come. This journal has a significant role to play for documenting these experiences and the research that followed. Evidence about the use of learning technologies for learning in many new education spaces and geographic places is now available. Interest in the topic of technology-enabled learning has increased exponentially and submissions documenting these new experiences, insights, research findings, and practice applications have continued to grow. Our journal supports scholars long involved in, or new to the topic of, technology-enabled learning design and delivery. © 2022 M. Cleveland-Innes and S. Lakhal.
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There is a great interest in online learning systems, especially due to COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are a lot of limitations and challenges of online laboratory learning systems. This paper presents an efficient technique that provides an intelligent virtual tutor for online laboratory environment, as in engineering and science sectors. Based on the analysis of the student's mouse activities, the AI virtual Assistant or virtual tutor will automatically estimate the difficulties that the student stuck during conducting the steps of lab's experiment. Hence, the virtual tutor can assist the student, accordingly. The technique is based on multi-threshold that are used to discriminate different levels of difficulties. The values of these thresholds are estimated and optimized via the genetic algorithm. The experimental results show that discrimination between different student behaviors can be achieved accurately and efficiently. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The field of education technology, and related subject areas attendant to it, welcomed millions of new participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to UNESCO, the education experiences of more than 1.4 billion students were disrupted in ways that will impact them, and those around them, for years to come. This journal has a significant role to play for documenting these experiences and the research that followed. Evidence about the use of learning technologies for learning in many new education spaces and geographic places is now available. Interest in the topic of technology-enabled learning has increased exponentially and submissions documenting these new experiences, insights, research findings, and practice applications have continued to grow. Our journal supports scholars long involved in, or new to the topic of, technology-enabled learning design and delivery. © 2022 M. Cleveland-Innes and S. Lakhal.
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Learning in times of pandemic represented a challenge for teachers and students, due to the difficulties generated by social distancing. During the Covid-19 pandemic, learning processes in educational institutions used multiple computer and electronic media. As for engineering programs, laboratory practices were discarded in many cases. This work develops a computer application with non-immersive virtual reality, applying a physical/actual laboratory guide in a virtual environment, in which a current loop for an Endress+Hausser PMD75 differential pressure transmitter had to be configured. This application was developed by students and the tutor of the AR/VR research incubator in conjunction with the teacher of the Industrial Instrumentation course, who acted as a client. The Unity3D game engine was used to simulate a tank, a cabinet and industrial instrumentation to measure the pressure at the bottom of the tank. Student were allowed to carry out the wiring of the different instruments inside the cabinet, and the configuration of the transmitter via a hand-terminal;In addition, the application includes a record of student events and interactions for future analysis. The perception of the application was evaluated through a survey applied to 43 students. The results showed that this tool, although it is a valuable support during virtual courses, and provides a first approach to real practice, the student requires interaction with real instruments. Therefore, the tool becomes a valuable complement prior to practices in a real laboratory. © 2022 IEEE.
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The present paper describes the hybrid and online learning during Covid-19 in the Graphical Engineering subject in the School of Industrial Engineering at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. The methodology applied and the results of the hybrid and online learning are also presented. The study is focused on the description of the development of all aspects involved in online learning as the Learning Management System, the Virtual Laboratory, Evaluation System and Online Learning Tool. Likewise, technological advances made it possible to introduce improvements not only in online education but also in face-to-face university education. These technological advances helped us to shift in an easy way from face-to-face learning to online and hybrid learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite many troubles with the online learning, it was developed in an excellent way. © 2022 IEEE.
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The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has changed the development plans of every country. Instead, governments had to constantly deal with ever-emerging issues in healthcare, education, economics and industry. As a result, there has been an accelerated introduction of digitalization in these spheres. Thus, an increasing number of people have started using electronic services that have improved their digital literacy. This feature has had a positive impact on society and helped to create new interaction tools between populations and governments, students and institutions, customers and companies. The article aims to analyze how studying radio electronics can be improved by involving new tools and how they can be applied in distance learning. This work presents the results of the development and application of a virtual radio signal simulation in the educational process in the form of a laboratory practicum. Working on this approach required specific research in the field; the foreign experience was observed and studied. The review allowed us to find out how digitalization and the application of digital tools affect the behaviour, cognition, and overall performance of students during the pandemic. The authors conducted a questionnaire among students to evaluate the features of the virtual laboratory work and their effect on the educational process. The results analyzed are given in the article. They showed that students highly appreciate the introduction of such tools in learning. Moreover, like the entire laboratory, the proposed model can be used in the educational process offline and with distance learning. Finally, the article describes the experience and results of the software package's development and integration for the spectrum analyzer's computer model and virtual laboratory work using the MS VS environment in C ++. The results of the conducted work demonstrate the versatility of the proposed approach, its positive impact on the educational process, high potential in the other spheres.
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This paper presents the results of the engineering student's perception of the implementation of virtual laboratories and simulators in the online modality during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was done through a questionnaire that was designed and validated to later apply it online and collect the student's perception regarding their previous experience, learning, self-learning, teaching practice, emotions and the curriculum around virtual laboratories and simulators. It is concluded that they are tools accepted by the students and that they facilitate learning and contribute to achieve the competencies required in engineering, even when the education is in the distance modality. © 2022 IEEE.