A roadmap for the VISIR remote lab

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a roadmap for the VISIR remote laboratory based on a SWOT analysis performed by fifteen experts, with large experience on VISIR deployment, and their perceptions in three categories: Technical, Pedagogical and Educational. The resulting VISIR roadmap was obtained considering an underlying strategy based on a RAKID model. The major resulting insights address the user interface as the most evident strength in the Pedagogical category, while the major weakness is matrix limitations in the Technical category. At the same time, this weakness is somewhat related to major opportunities identified as ‘new developments’ also, in the Pedagogical category. The major Educational category aspects arise as threats and are related to ICT availability, an issue not directly controlled by the VISIR community, but by institutional practices and policies. The proposed roadmap and its guidelines establish a sustainable strategy and framework to support the future of VISIR and enlarging its community.

KEYWORDS:

• Remote lab
• VISIR
• roadmap
• SWOT analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express acknowledgment to all VISIR experts contributing to the SWOT analysis, with their visions and insights, namely to Razwan Najimaldeen, University of Duhok, Iraq; Natércia Lima, ISEP – P. Porto, Portugal; Felix García Loro, UNED, Spain; Alejandro Macho, UNED, Spain; Martin Fernandez, NTU, Argentina; Luis Rodrigues-Gil, CTO LabsLand, Spain; Carlos Arguedas Matarrita, UNED, Costa Rica; Christian Kreiter, CUAS, Austria; Claudius Terkowsky, TU Dortmund University, Germany; Juarez Silva, UFSC, Santa Catarina, Brazil; Luis Schlichting, IFSC, Santa Catarina, Brazil; Federico Lerro, UNR, Argentina; Fernando Soria, UNSE, Santiago del Estero, Argentina; Ana Pavani, PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Ahmed Naddami, Hassan II University, Morocco.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ingvar Gustavsson’s goal was to allow students to freely perform available experiments, while learning about electric and electronic circuits. With VISIR, Gustavsson’s vision enables students to freely perform experiments, either locally or remotely.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: [Grant Number UIDB/04730/2020].

Notes on contributors

Gustavo R. Alves

Gustavo R. Alves obtained his PhD in Computers and Electrical Engineering, from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1999. He is affiliated with the Polytechnic of Porto - School of Engineering, since 1994, where he now holds a position as Associate Professor. He was involved in 19 national and international R&D projects and has authored or co-authored 270+ publications, including book chapters and conference and journal papers with a referee process. His research interests include engineering education and remote laboratories. He currently serves as Head of the Research Centre for Engineering and Industrial Technology (CIETI), Vice-President of the International Association for Online Engineering (IAOE), and associated editor for the IEEE Journal of Latin-American Learning Technologies.

Maria A. Marques

Arcelina Marques graduated in Physics from University of Porto, has an MSc degree in Physics of Laser Communications from University of Essex and a PhD degree in Engineering Sciences from University of Porto. She is affiliated with Polytechnic of Porto - School of Engineering (ISEP) since 1995, where she lectures physics, electronics, and biomechanics courses. She has been involved in several R&D national and international projects in the areas of Biomechanics, medical instrumentation, Engineering Education and Remote Experimentation which are her present research interests. She has more than 900 citations and is author or co-author of 100+ conference and journal papers, several book chapters, 1 national patent and another international patent pending. She has served as member of several international conferences scientific and organizing committees. At present, she is Board member of the VISIR Federation and serves as vice-president of ISEP' Scientific Council.

André V. Fidalgo

André Fidalgo graduated in 1996 and received his MSc and PhD degrees in electrical and computer engineering, in 1999, and 2008, respectively, from the University of Porto, Portugal. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at ISEP, in 1999, where he now holds a position as Adjunct Professor. He is also coordinator of the CIETI-LABORIS research group. He is author or co-author of 60+ papers in refereed national and international conferences and journals, collaborated as a reviewer of several conferences in the remote labs and digital system testing areas. He also collaborated on the organization of the CISPEE2013, REV2014, EDUCON2020 and TAEE2020 conference editions, among others. His current research and development interests are centered on remote laboratories, e-learning systems, digital hardware design and test and reconfigurable hardware.

Javier García-Zubía

Javier García-Zubía received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain (1987, 1996). He is currently a Full Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Deusto. He is the leader of the WebLab-Deusto Research Group. His research interests include remote laboratory design, implementation, and evaluation.

Manuel Castro

Manuel Castro, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor in the Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED), is expert in Applications of Simulation and Electronics and in Technology Enhanced Learning. He co-chaired the conferences LWMOOCS 2022, WEEF/GEDC 2021, LWMOOCS 2018, EDUCON 2018, REV 2016, FIE 2014. Is IEEE Fellow, IEEE HKN (Eta Kappa Nu) Professional member, President Emeritus of the IEEE Education Society and Past Director of the IEEE Division VI. He has been awarded among others with: IEEE EdSoc William E. Sayle Award for Achievement in Education, TAEE (Technologies Applied to Electronics Education) Tomás Pollán to Discipline Merit, and IGIP (International Society for Engineering Pedagogy) Nicola Tesla Chain. Is Honour Ambassador of Madrid Convention Bureau and past co-editor of IEEE-RITA.

Unai Hernández-Jayo

Unai Hernández-Jayo holds a PhD in Telecommunications from the University of Deusto. Since 2004 he has been working as a lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Deusto. He is part of Deustek and WebLab-Deusto research teams, leading the design and development of remote laboratories focused on analog electronics. He has an extensive experience in R&D management, working in projects and technology transfer actions. As part of them, he has more than 70 publications in relevant international conferences and journals on remote laboratories, enhanced learning technologies, including indexed journal articles.

Felix García-Loro

Felix Garcia-Loro received his Ph.D. Degree in Engineering from the Industrial Engineering School (ETSII), National University of Distance Education (UNED) in 2018. He is Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering and Control Systems and Electronics in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, UNED. He is IEEE Senior Member and IEEE HKN Professional member.

Christian Kreiter

Christian Kreiter obtained his MSc in Systems Design, from the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Austria, in 2014. He currently is affiliated with the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, where he holds a position as Senior Researcher and Lecturer. He was involved in 13 national and international R&D projects and has authored or co-authored 20+ publications, including conference and journal papers with a referee process. His research interests include remote laboratories, internet technologies and engineering education.