Title
Hands-on experiences of undergraduate students in Automatics and Robotics using a virtual and remote laboratory
Abstract
Automatics and Robotics subjects are always greatly improved when classroom teaching is supported by adequate laboratory courses and experiments following the ''learning by doing'' paradigm, which provides students a deep understanding of theoretical lessons. However, expensive equipment and limited time prevent teachers having sufficient educational platforms, and several low cost and flexible solutions have been developed to permit an effective teaching in Automatics and Robotics at a reasonable cost. Virtual and remote laboratories are inside this group of solutions as Web-based experimentation tools which have demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of hand-on experiences. This paper presents an experience teaching based on a blended-learning method using as experimentation tool a virtual and remote robotic laboratory called RobUALab, which is also described in the paper, in Automatics and Robotics subjects of the Computer Science degree at the University of Alicante. Students experiment with a set of hand-on exercises about Automatics and Robotics using RobUALab, firstly in face-to-face classes where they experiment in-situ with the real plant and, afterwards, they access to the experimentation environment in order to finish remotely their practical exercises outside the laboratory. The results obtained in the evaluation of the educational methodology proposed attest its efficiency in terms of learning degree and performance of the students.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1016/j.compedu.2011.07.003
Computers & Education
Keywords
Field
DocType
classroom teaching,remote robotic laboratory,experimentation environment,effective teaching,undergraduate student,adequate laboratory course,experience teaching,hands-on experience,experimentation tool,web-based experimentation tool,robotics subject,remote laboratory,evaluation,higher education,automation,computer science,robotics,internet,experiential learning,blended learning
Experiential learning,E learning,Computer science,Remote laboratory,Automation,Pedagogy,Artificial intelligence,Blended learning,Multimedia,Higher education,Robotics,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
57
4
0360-1315
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
35
1.96
19
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Carlos A. Jara11207.50
Francisco A. Candelas21207.83
Santiago T. Puente Méndez3352.64
Fernando Torres419624.92