Pedagogical evaluation of remote laboratories in eMerge project

Abstract

This study investigates opportunities for conducting electrical engineering experiments via the Internet rather than in an actual laboratory. Eighty-four French students of electrical engineering (semester 1, 2004) at Bordeaux University 1 participated in practical courses. Half of the students performed experiments in a laboratory while the other half performed them via the Internet. Questionnaires were used to obtain students' views as to acceptance, usability, learning effect and usefulness in studying and vocational terms. The learning effect was also measured by a knowledge test. The results show that conducting experiments via the Internet is just as successful as conducting experiments in an actual laboratory. The experiments performed score well for usability and moderately for acceptance and usefulness in studying and vocational terms. Greater use of webcams is suggested as a way of improving acceptance, as this allows more direct contact to the experiments.

Keywords:

• Remote laboratory
• Pedagogical evaluation
• Pedagogical effect

Acknowledgements

The study was part of the project e-Merge (Educational network structure for dissemination of real laboratory experiments to support engineering education), EU Programme No: 100671-CP-1-2002-1-FR-MINERVA-M; Socrates Programme, European Commission.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D. Lang

Daniela Lang studied psychology with emphases on industrial, organisational and educational psychology. Since 2002 she has worked as a researcher at the Centre for Educational Research at the University of Koblenz-Landau. Major research interests are psychological diagnostics and evaluation, vocational education, and social competence.

C. Mengelkamp

Christoph Mengelkamp studied psychology and finished his studies with a thesis about the use of learning strategies in learning with hypermedia. Since 2002 he has worked as a researcher at the Centre for Educational Research at the University of Koblenz-Landau. His major research interests are metacognition in learning, psychological diagnostics and test development.

R. S. Jäger

Reinhold S. Jaeger, head of the Centre for Educational Research at the University Koblenz-Landau, has held a chair in psychology since 1989. He made his diploma in psychology at the University of Mannheim, worked there in the Otto-Selz-Institute for Psychology and Education, relocated 1978 in the German Institute for International Research in Frankfurt/M., and responded to a call to Landau University in 1989. He is an expert in the area of psychological and educational diagnostics as well in evaluation. He has published over 500 books, articles in national and international journals and books. Some of his books are standard textbooks in German-speaking countries. Evaluation, learning and instruction, and lifelong learning are his current research topics.

D. Geoffroy

Didier Geoffroy was born in Epernay, France. He received the MSc degree in applied physics from the University of Orsay, Paris, in 1980. He is currently associate professor in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bordeaux and head of the pedagogical lab centre of this department. His special interests include multimedia, open and distance learning and the implementation of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in practical courses.

M. Billaud

Michel Billaud, born 1958, is an Associate Professor at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie of the University Bordeaux 1, where he teaches operating systems, network administration and various aspects of computer science and information technology in the Software Engineering departement. As a member of the LaBRI (Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique), his research interests include logic and functional programming languages, computations by graph rewriting, and algebric aspects of semantics. He maintains the Retwine software in Bordeaux, and developped the Elab plateform for remote lab in electronics (Emerge project).

T. Zimmer

Thomas Zimmer is Professor at the University of Bordeaux 1, France, since 2003. His research focuses on characterisation and modelling of high-frequency devices, in particular Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors. He is co-founder of the company XMOD Technologies and he has published about 100 technical papers related to his research. His education interests concern multimedia, open and distance learning and the implementation of ICT in practical courses. In particular, he was the co-ordinator of several European projects in the framework of the Socrates–Minerva programme.