Work in progress — A program to incorporate portable labs into lecture-based electrical and computer engineering courses

Author

Ferri, Bonnie ; Auerbach, Jill

Author_Institution

Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

27-30 Oct. 2010

Abstract

This Work in Progress paper describes the Teaching Enhancement via Small-Scale Affordable Labs (TESSAL) Center at Georgia Tech. This center is devoted to the development and implementation of distributed labs, that is, experiments that can be done by students at home or in the classroom. The objective is to introduce experiment-based active learning into typical lecture-based courses. A total of 1264 students at Georgia Tech have participated in TESSAL activities, and assessment is underway to determine its effectiveness in enhancing the learning of fundamental concepts and in inspiring the students in the topics being taught. This paper describes the best practices for implementing distributed labs as well as the infrastructure needed to support the labs: logistical plans, instructor resources, student resources, and web-based support.

Keywords

computer aided instruction; computer science education; educational courses; electrical engineering education; Web-based support; computer engineering course; distributed labs; experiment-based active learning; instructor resource; lecture-based electrical course; logistical plan; portable labs; small-scale affordable labs; student resource; teaching enhancement; work in progress; Best practices; Buildings; Computers; Control systems; Education; Laboratories; Materials; active learning; distributed laboratories; portable experiments;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2010 IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0190-5848

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-6261-2

Electronic_ISBN

0190-5848

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.2010.5673260

Filename

5673260