Developing Online Labs in Electrical Engineering

Laboratories are an essential component of an Undergraduate Curriculum in Electrical Engineering. When developing the online-delivery mode of our ABET-accredited BSEE curriculum, we faced the challenge of replicate the learning outcomes and student experience of the on-campus labs in an environment where students are not able to physically come to campus. We classified the labs into three categories: (1) Labs that require hands-on interaction (circuit building and testing), (2) labs that involve software simulation and interaction with remote hardware and (3) labs that benefit from a Virtual Reality experience. We will show examples how we were able to translate the hands-on labs using lab bench toolkits that include signal generators, oscilloscopes, multimeters and power supplies in a compact format. Alternatively, we will demonstrate how providing remote access to hardware that does not require physical interaction and circuit simulation software enables students to have the same learning experience as on-campus students.