Sharing Educational Experiences from In-Person Classroom to Collaborative Lab Environments

Prof. Dr. Manuel Castro, http://www.slideshare.net/mmmcastro/
Electronics Technology Professor, UNED, Madrid, SPAIN
IEEE Fellow, Sr Past President, IEEE Education Society
SSharing Educational Experiences from In-Person
Classroom to Collaborative Lab Environments
M.I. Pozzo, E. Dobboletta, A. Fidalgo, G. Alves,
F. Garcia-Loro, E. Sancristobal, G. Diaz and 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 ? Remotely ? Face-to-face ?
• 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 ? Need some collaborative tools ?
• Is possible to replicate the VISIR network in emerging countries ?
And federate them ?

VISIR / VISIR+
2015 Award
Global Online
Laboratory Consortium
VISIR
VISIR+

• VISIR System (HW + SW)
• Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality
VISIR system

• Complex boards + Instrumentation
VISIR system

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

Scalability!!
• VISIR has some features that collide with a massive use or 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

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

New replications (I)
Hardware, software and educational uses support (VISIR+):
• Share publications and tutorials regarding the use of VISIR
• Share the use of VISIR remotely to allow access
• Start a first time face-to-face experience with decision making
teachers and academic administrators regarding feasibility and
best practice
• Start several synchronous sessions (using some collaborative
environment, like Moodle, videoconference facilities, etc.) with
the new teachers and personnel involved in the new
deployment to allow a fast starting access of the system

New replications (II)
Hardware, software and educational uses support (VISIR+):
• Develop face-to-face delivery with people involved in the on-
site implementation as well as with new target institution
members in the area of the local University
• Have a local experience inside the classroom on the use and
development of the educational implementation
• Develop and extend the teaching experience from the local
institution to all the core new institutions in the local area
• Realize a formal evaluation and quality assurance of the
process

New replications (III)
UNED-Santiago
del Estero
collaboration:
• Distance and
on-line
training
• Face-to-face
training
Participant Institutions UNED & UNSE
Local coordinator Rubén Fernández
Members from EU HEI Manuel Castro & Félix García Loro
Members from LA
Institution/s
Rubén Fernández, Héctor Paz, Mario
Gómez, Fernando Soria
City Santiago del Estero
Dates (2016) September12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and
16th
Total number of turnsa 8
Number of attendants 31
Attendees’ institutions Universidad Nacional de Santiago del
Estero, Universidad Católica de Santiago
del Estero, Universidad Nacional de
Salta, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán,
Universidad Tecnológica Nacional,
Facultad Regional de: Buenos Aires,
Delta, Paraná, Escuela de Educación
Técnica Nº 8
IRICE member in person María Isabel Pozzo
News on the web Link Faculty in
UNSE: http://www.unse.edu.ar/index.ph
p/editar/2963-se-dictara-taller-
internacional
Link home UNSE: Taller de capacitación
Own VISIR? No
Technical Training
Action
No

Outcomes (I)
• The integration of remote laboratories in online learning
environments, together with good practices in designing
practical experiences, reduce the disadvantages of remote
laboratories compared to in-person laboratories, without
leaving behind their inherent advantages
• Strategy of using diverse and complementary options in the
same course (as in-person laboratories, remote laboratories
and/or simulators) provides a broad range of capabilities and
an easier assimilation of the experimental advantages

Outcomes (II)
• Students have been able to complete the different activities
and tasks from different courses and educative platforms, to
interact with the remote lab. So, for students, the different
systems used have accomplished its function: to provide the
remote laboratory along with theoretical contents.
• Previous experience for the UNED system implementation,
communities and platform, aLF and INTECA videoconference
system, allow the implementation of the remote laboratories
as well as the support systems inside MOOCs

Outcomes (III)
Advantages Disadvantages
Simulator Flexible, generic, accessible
More relaxed attitude
It prepares for the real lab
Everything works
Complexity
Virtual lab It simulates something real It’s specific
It depends on the internet
Online lab It simulates something real through
Internet
No specific setup or configuration
Internet bandwidth use
Remote lab It’s real
Access to expensive equipment
I can see what others do.
Safe design
It needs less physical space
Users’ inversion is smaller.
It may not work or it may not be
maintained.
It relays on internet connection.
They do not seem real
They are usually unique users
They may get burned
Software messages

Next steps: PILAR
• Building a reliable, highly available, unique international VISIR
platform federation, that integrates all the different resources
used by VISIR in each of the partners
• Federation will be completely opened to other partners,
allowing to extend the capabilities of PILAR to much more
interested educational institutions
• Building a set of remote practices, based in this new platform
• Those new remote Practices must allow, in a transparent way,
the use of the best set of remote learning services available

VISIR / VISIR+ / PILAR
2015 Award
Global Online
Laboratory Consortium
VISIR
VISIR+
PILAR

Conclusions
• Remote laboratory VISIR has shown the ability to perform its
activity inside classrooms as in massive environments remotely
• Experimentation and VISIR remote lab have been an attraction
for teacher’s and students’ enrollment
• The replication of new VISIR nodes are on-going
• VISIR+ are expanding the VISIR network in South-America
• PILAR is federating and incresing collaborative functionalities

Support – Projects
PILAR >>> 2016-1-ES01-KA203-025327
Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership in Higher Education 2016

Sharing Educational Experiences from In-Person Classroom to Collaborative Lab Environments

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