Teaching circuits and electronics laboratory - Beyond the brick and mortar walls

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Abstract

Background Conventional undergraduate circuits and electronics laboratory courses are traditionally taught within the “brick and mortar” walls of a college or university where students are seated at lab benches outfitted with a standard test equipment, including a power supply, multimeter, function generator, and oscilloscope. As enrollment increases, additional laboratory sections or new laboratories need to be constructed; both costly to the school. This research study evaluated a hybrid model to educate more students without impacting learning or increasing cost. Purpose This paper documents a new approach, called the “hybrid laboratory,” developed and tested based on the research question “What is the effect on student learning when traditional laboratory teaching is modified and augmented with a student owned computer-driven laboratory tool?” Method The study design was a quasi-experimental mixed-methods with treatment and control groups (η = 200). Over three semesters, information collected identified the impact on learning when conventional laboratory practices are combined with learning outside of the laboratory spaces utilizing one of the many tools available, the Analog Discovery. Results Data revealed that the new approach improved the final course grade average by the treatment group by 2%, indicating improved learning and no negative impact to the students. Results also indicate that laboratory learner was equal to and exceeded that of a traditional style laboratory offering, student laboratory report grades, and laboratory proficiency grades were also higher. The study revealed that students enrolled in the non-traditional laboratory sections had better in laboratory attendance than those in the traditional sections. Conclusion Comparison of tradition laboratory learning to a hybrid laboratory revealed that laboratory learning increased when utilizing the hybrid approach without adding additional cost to the students or school. Based on this study, the university will evaluate extending this pedagogy to additional laboratory classes.

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Bowden, D. A., Phillips, C., & Weitzen, J. A. (2019). Teaching circuits and electronics laboratory - Beyond the brick and mortar walls. In ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings. American Society for Engineering Education. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--33345

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