Practical competences in a MOOC through remote laboratories

Prof. Dr. Manuel Castro, http://www.slideshare.net/mmmcastro/
Electronics Technology Professor, UNED, Madrid, SPAIN
IEEE Fellow, Jr Past President, IEEE Education Society
Practical competences in a MOOC
through remote laboratories
Electronics remote lab integration into a MOOC
F. Garcia-Loro / E. Sancristobal / G. Diaz / R. Meier / M Castro

What / Why / How
• Is it possible to provide satisfactory experimental
experiences in a remote learning environment?
• How can a remote lab handle a massive environment ?
• Is VISIR a tool suitable for teaching or complementing
electronics learning process ?
• Can become remote labs a stand-alone learning tool or do
they need to be a part of a more complex system to
achieve the learning goals they are able to provide ?

What is a remote lab?
A remote laboratory is a tool which combines software
and hardware to allow students to access to real
equipment, instruments and components remotely
through the Internet
The main advantage of remote labs, when compared with
traditional laboratories, lies in its availability that has
neither temporal nor geographical restrictions
Main disadvantage are maintenance and 100% availability

What is VISIR ?
Virtual Instrument System In Reality
VISIR is a remote laboratory for wiring and measuring
electronics circuits on a breadboard remotely
VISIR allows realizing real measurements on physical equipment
The entire equipment is controlled by LabVIEW server
software
The wiring mechanism is developed by means of a relay
switching matrix connected to a PCI eXtensions for
Instrumentation (PXI)

What is not VISIR?
VISIR is not a simulation software or a virtual lab; there is a
physical limitation since it does not allow an indeterminate
number of concurrent users
VISIR is not a lab to carry out any type of experiment; for
example, destructive experiments are not allowed because all
experiments must be reusable
VISIR is not an instructor; The measurement server acts as an
instructor to avoid hazard circuits but it lacks of assessment
and evaluation for teachers or guidance for students

VISIR software
Web Server
(Apache)
Database
(PHP – Adoble Flash)
Measure Server
(Microsoft Visual C++)
Equipment Server
(Labview)
User
Hardware

UNED-COMA
UNED-COMA platform is an Open-UNED initiative, aimed at
the deployment of MOOCs from different Departments and
Teaching Teams of UNED
UNED-COMA platform explodes the rich experience in distance
education of UNED educational system
Badge, Credential (paying) and Certificate (paying + in-person
exam)
Curator (UNED-COMA) & Facilitator (teaching staff)
Access is completely open and free

BCEP-MOOC
Circuits Fundamentals and Applied Electronics (“Bases de
Circuitos y Electrónica Práctica”, BCEP)
The core of the MOOC is the remote laboratory VISIR
Critical analysis point: Scalability; VISIR into a massive
environment
The acquisition of the competences in analyzing circuits is not
an objective, at least a minimal knowledge is necessary

BCEP-MOOC scenario
MOOCs are promoting different lifelong learning experiences and
continuing education models; MOOCs appear to fit well to several areas
of knowledge
A significant challenge exists in developing courses where experimentation
plays an important role: the provision of laboratory work online along
with the theoretical contents
Virtual labs and simulators represent a first approach to the problem,
even though, they are still a bit far from delivering to student the
performance of the real equipment under real-life operation conditions

BCEP-MOOC objectives
Activities, grading methodology and tests/exams are focused
on the interaction between student and VISIR’s workbench
Practical experiences are focused on, besides the experimental
verification of the electrical/electronics laws, the use of real
components
Practical experiences are also focused on the different
component technologies and their dissimilar behavior at certain
working conditions

BCEP objectives
Offering a long-term working methodology:
1. Hand solving the circuit following an ideal model or taking into
account some approximations
2. Simulation by means of software such as PSpice, Multisim or
MicroCap
3. Once knowing and understanding the behavior in the circuit, the
access to the laboratory encompass experimental verification of the
laws governing the behavior of electric/electronic circuits, the
disadvantages when working with real equipment and the undesirable
effects when working with real components and instruments
4. Comparative analysis of the results obtained from preceding points

BCEP modules
• Module I: Simulation
• Module II: Remote laboratory (VISIR): equipment &
instruments
• Module III: Working with resistors
• Module IV: RLC circuits
• Module V: Working with diodes
• Module VI: Filters
• Module VII: Zener diode
• Module VIII: Operational amplifier

Scalability!!
VISIR has some features that collide with a MOOC: The
intrinsic limitations of a real laboratory such as VISIR collide
with one of the most relevant features that any MOOC should
achieve: scalability
An undetermined number of users can access VISIR’s simulated
workbench (it’s a server limitation as in other systems), but …
A maximum of 60 users can simultaneously perform
measurements; more accesses to the measurement instruments
collapses VISIR

Physical constraints
Furthermore, for an optimal immersion, the number of concurrent users
should not exceed 25 to obtain an adequate response time in continuous
measuring (for occasional measures this factor is not critical)
request muestra1
Gráfico de Dispersión
52 62 72 82 92 102
maxlist
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400
maxlist
2080 2100 2120 2140 2160 2180

Alarms off
It is very unlikely that all connected users perform
measurements simultaneously; The laboratory time is
necessary specially for the circuit assembly and for configuring
the equipment much more than for measuring
In addition, MOOCs show a high dropout rate; So, delaying
VISIR onset, the number of accesses is limited to those
students who are really interested and motivated

Bookings system settings
Initial settings:
• 2 simultaneous turns booked (variable)
• 16 turns per course (variable)
• 60 minutes per turn (fixed)
• 16 concurrent users (variable); up to 384 turns every day
Going to the limits (60 concurrent users): up to 1440 turns
every day avoiding the risk of collapsing VISIR

Student’s post
Statement agree %
I would be interested in a re-edition of this MOOC 166 65,60%
I would be interested in a similar practice-based
MOOC on electronics but more basic than this
MOOC
97 38,30%
I would be interested in a similar practice-based
MOOC on electronics but more advanced than this
MOOC
70 27,70%
I would be interested in a theoretical MOOC on
electronics (without practical experiences and the
remote lab VISIR)
28 11,10%
I’m not interested in new MOOCs 3 1,20%
I'm not interested in a re-edition of this MOOC 4 1,60%

Conclusions
Remote laboratory VISIR has shown the ability to perform its
activity satisfactorily in massive environments
About the MOOC, student needs a theoretical framework
along with VISIR in order to take advantage of practical
experiences: BCEP-MOOC requires a redesign
Experimentation and VISIR remote lab have been an
attraction for students’ enrollment

Support – Projects
NEW PROJECT >>> PILAR >>> 2016-1-ES01-KA203-025327
Platform Integration of Laboratories based on the Architecture of visiR
Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership in Higher Education 2016

Practical competences in a MOOC through remote laboratories

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