Virtual Electronics Laboratory: A new tool to improve Industrial Electronics Learning

This paper describes a new tool to improve the industrial electronics education process. The tool really constitute a virtual electronic laboratory because it is made up of a set of virtual experiments with a user-friendly graphic interface and interactive simulated electronic instruments relating practical concepts with theoretical ones. The virtual laboratory can be used with a traditional book as well as with a hypermedia learning system. The combination of the tutorial and the virtual electronic laboratory constitute a bridge between theoretical lessons and laboratory classes. The professor can use the experiments of the virtual laboratory in the classroom to improve student retention. Using this tool, undergraduate technical students improve their performance and increase their efficiency in the laboratory. A pilot experience has been implemented for ANALOG AND DIGITAL ELECTRONICS. The analog virtual laboratory includes a set of circuits using discrete electronic devices and operational amplifiers and four different simulated instruments: a signal generator, a power supply, a multimeter and an oscilloscope. The digital electronics virtual laboratory includes the different combinational and sequential digital circuits and a virtual logic analyzer to visualize the evolution of the different input and output signals