Remote Laboratory NetLab for Effective Teaching of 1st Year Engineering Students

Authors

  • Zorica Nedic School of Electrical and Information Engineering,University of South Australia
  • Jan F Machotka School of Electrical and Information Engineering,University of South Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v3i3.436

Abstract


Practical skills are important attributes of every engineering graduate. The Internet has provided tertiary education with the opportunity to develop innovative learning environments. The teaching and learning of practical skills has gained a new dimension with the emergence of remote laboratories. The rapidly growing number of remote laboratories (RL) worldwide is the evidence that the educational community has recognized their potential to develop into a creative, flexible, engaging, and student-cantered learning environment. Even a brief review of the existing RLs shows a large diversity in their structure, design and implementation. However, not many researchers disclose how their RLs are integrated within their curricula. Therefore, an important question still remains to be answered: how to optimize the design of RLs and their integration in a course curriculum for the best learning outcomes? This problem is particularly important when RLs are used in teaching 1st year students who have limited technical knowledge and practical experience in using real equipment. In this paper we would like to share our experiences with NetLab, an RL developed at the University of South Australia (UniSA) for teaching 1st year engineering students and make recommendations for improvements in teaching practices based on it.

Author Biographies

Zorica Nedic, School of Electrical and Information Engineering,University of South Australia

Zorica Nedic has BE degree in electrical engineering, specialising in electronics from the University of Belgrade, Serbia and ME in electrical engineering from the University of South Australia. She worked for six years as a R&D engineer at the Institute Mihajlo Pupin in Belgrade. She has been a lecturer in electrical engineering at the University of South Australia since 1991. Her research interests include engineering education as well as modelling biological vision.

Jan F Machotka, School of Electrical and Information Engineering,University of South Australia

Jan Machotka has BE in electrical engineering from the Czech Technical University in Prague. He worked as a professional consultant in industry in Czechoslovakia and abroad for more than 10 years and has been teaching at the University of South Australia for more than 20 years. He is currently a Programme Director for undergraduate, postgraduate and transnational students. In recognition of his academic efforts, he has received highest University’s and national awards. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer of Engineers Australia. His major research interests are in computer-aided methods in circuits and systems analysis, e-education, innovations in education, and remote laboratories. He has published more than 30 publications, mostly in the field of engineering education.

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Published

2007-08-07

How to Cite

Nedic, Z., & Machotka, J. F. (2007). Remote Laboratory NetLab for Effective Teaching of 1st Year Engineering Students. International Journal of Online and Biomedical Engineering (iJOE), 3(3). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v3i3.436

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 3 (2007)

Section

Special Focus Papers