Board 109: Moving Towards a Fully On-line Laboratory in Electric Circuits Course

The department of Engineering Technology in our institution has been pursuing to offer a Bachelor of Science program in Electrical Engineering Technology totally online. Currently, all lectures are delivered online for all courses taught by the department. Nevertheless, some of the laboratories still require attendance to the facilities on campus. As an alternative, some classes have appealed to the use of simulators that in some cases provide a limited mindfulness of the condition. Such is the case of Electricity and Electronic lab (EET 3085L), a class with an increasing enrollment over the years. An online section of EET 3085L is offered together with an in-lab section. Both sections cover the same experiments, with the difference that online students use simulator (Multisim) to complete the labs. However, leaving lab experience limited to the use of a simulator and keeping into consideration that a graduate in Engineering Technology should offer a substantial hands-on experience, practice obtained from a simulator is not a substitute for skills obtained with real world hands-on experiments. To mitigate the lack of hands-on experience in EET 3085L, we are proposing as strategy the adoption of a lab module that, when plugged to a computer deliver a multi-instrument circuit analysis tool that allow students to perform the required experiments under real physical conditions. There are several options available for the referred modules in the market. The first step will be to select the appropriate lab module based in its capability to adapt and to convey the experiments programmed for the EET 3085 class. The selection criteria will consider, among other characteristics, affordability so that all students can have access to the resource. Once the module is selected, we will procced to convert each one of the twelve lab experiments to the new setting, such that each one of the experiments preserves the alignment with the objectives of the course and the program. Simultaneously, all didactic material: manuals, assessments and videos will be developed. Background.