Acquisition of Practical Competences through a MOOC

Acquisition of Practical Competences

through a MOOCManuel Castro

[email protected]://www.slideshare.com/mmmcastro/

Full ProfessorElectrical & Computer Engineering Department

(DIEEC)Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)

PresidentIEEE Education Society

CONTENTS

1.Introduction2.Course designed3.Practices designed4.Results


1. INTRODUCTION

◌ The name of the MOOC is: “Practical Basis on Circuits and Electronics” (Bases de Circuitos y Electronica Práctica, BCEP)

◌ MOOCs fit well to several areas of knowledge. However, a significant challenge exists in developing courses where experimentation plays an important role. When designing any electronics course there is a need to have practical experiences as one of the pillars on which the learning is established

◌ The MOOC’s first edition was from May to September 2013, as one of many in UNED COMA initiative (https://unedcoma.es/)

◌ Second edition was from November 2013 to January 2014◌ The experiments included in the MOOC are based on the

remote laboratory platform Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) a remote laboratory for electric and electronic circuits experiments

https://unedcoma.es/


1. INTRODUCTIONUNEDCOMA platform



CONTENTS

2. COURSE DESIGNEDPreliminary aspects

◌ The evaluation and activities go around the remote laboratory and the objectives and evaluation are focused on the handling of the instruments and measurements

◌ Even though VISIR has its owns reservation system, the remote laboratory reservation system has been integrated in the platform of the MOOC

◌ The students have not time limitation for completing the different tasks

◌ All videos and activities contribute to the grade◌ Students will get a course badge by accomplishing that the

grade exceed the cut-off grade point established (80 over 100)◌ All documents, guides and videos are in Spanish◌ The acquisition of the competences for analysing circuits is not

an objective in this MOOC. It would be an additional benefit, although it is not a direct objective

2. COURSE DESIGNEDLearning goals

◌ Gaining practical competences in basic electric and electronic circuits, by using a lab with real components. Also gaining practical competences in the use of the usual equipment in such laboratories

◌ Improving the knowledge for designing electric and electronic circuits

◌ Experimental verification of the laws governing the behavior of electric and electronic circuits. Gaining practical competences in basic electric and electronic circuits

◌ Wider knowledge of the real behavior of basic electronics components

◌ Working methodology (integrating circuit, simulation and remote labs)

◌ NOT focused on circuit solution competences and knowledge (this is recommended to be assured using other MOOC, like MIT one’s).

2. COURSE DESIGNEDRemote lab: VISIR

◌ The experiments included in the MOOC are based on the remote laboratory platform Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR), a remote lab for electric and electronic circuits experiments, developed at Bleckinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Sweden and in use in several universities all around the world

◌ The main advantage of VISIR when compared with traditional electronic laboratories lies in its availability: neither temporal nor geographical restrictions

2. COURSE DESIGNEDReservation system

◌ VISIR collide with one of the most relevant features that any MOOC should achieve: scalability [16]

◌ Initial settings: ◌ 16 simultaneous users◌ 60 minutes per turn◌ 2 simultaneous turns booked◌ 14 turns per course

◌ With these settings, up to 384 students every day◌ Adjusting these parameters, the administrators are able to

regulate the remote laboratory availability to the demand of use

2. COURSE DESIGNEDReservation system

2. COURSE DESIGNEDCourse contents

◌ 42 videos◌ Handling of remote laboratory instruments◌ Components and circuits behavior◌ resistor color codes (4, 5 & 6 bands) and capacitor codes

◌ 55 standard multiple choice questions (single-answer and multiple-answer questions)

◌ 30 exams multiple choice questions◌ 4 documents covering the theoretical contents of the course◌ Simulator and VISIR Manuals and Tutorials◌ Datasheets in order to transfer all inconveniences when

working with real components◌ 8 Practices guides◌ Over 30 activities with sub-activities associated for experiment

with the different circuits designed



CONTENTS

2. PRACTICES DESIGNEDCourse modules

◌ Module 1: Simulation◌ Module 2: Remote laboratory (VISIR)◌ Module 3: Working with resistors. Ohmic values. Voltage

divider◌ Module 4: RLC circuits. RL, RLC & RC circuits◌ Module 5: Working with diodes. Differences between 1N4007 &

BAT42. Halfwave rectifier. Voltage drop on diode◌ Module 6: Low-pass filter. Mean value, voltage ripple, load

regulation and line regulation◌ Module 7: Zener diode. Zener diode as voltage regulator.

Zener diode as clipper. Construction of the current-voltage characteristic curve

◌ Module 8: Operational amplifier. Non-inverting amplifier. Inverting differentiator. Inverting amplifie

2. PRACTICES DESIGNEDDiodes

◌ 1N4007

◌ BAT42

09/04/2023

100 Hz 10 kHz 1 MHz

100 Hz 10 kHz 1 MHz

2. PRACTICES DESIGNEDDiodes

◌ Clipper circuit

Ucc = 0 V Ucc = 2 V

Ucc = 4 V Ucc = 6 V

2. PRACTICES DESIGNEDZener diode

◌ Zener diode: Current-voltage characteristic

2. PRACTICES DESIGNEDRLC circuits

◌ RLC circuits: RC circuit.

100 Hz20 Hz 500 Hz

5 kHz1 kHz 10 kHz



CONTENTS

2. COURSE DESIGNEDStudent’s profile

◌ 80% think that real remote laboratories are suitable tools for obtaining practical competences

◌ 45% had experience doing real practices in a real, on-campus, laboratory, 31% had used simulators, 9% had worked with virtual labs and only 2% had experience with remote labs

◌ More than 81% have enrolled this MOOC especially because of the use of a real remote laboratory

◌ More than 91% explicitly assert that real laboratory practices help a lot to establish the relationship between theoretical contents and real behavior

◌ 43% are 36 years old or more, 33% among 26 and 35 years old and only 14% younger than 26 years old

◌ Only 11% are female◌ 73% of the participants declare Spain as his country, followed

by 6% of Colombians

2. COURSE DESIGNEDStudent’s profile

2. COURSE DESIGNEDSurveys: Results reliability

2. COURSE DESIGNEDDropout

◌ 1st Edition.

◌ 2nd Edition.

Implementation

MOOC / SOOC / SPOC ?

Implementation

MOOC / SOOC / SPOC ?


UNED COMA



For more information about remote laboratories, we invite you to access to the web page of the Electrical & Computer Engineering department of the UNED.

http://ohm.ieec.uned.es/

Research on Technologies for Engineering Education



THANKS!!Manuel [email protected]

http://www.slideshare.com/mmmcastro/

Full ProfessorElectrical & Computer Engineering Department

(DIEEC)Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED)

PresidentIEEE Education Society