2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In engineering education, laboratory learning that is well aligned with core content knowledge is instrumental as it plays a significant role in students’ knowledge construction, application, and distribution. Learning in laboratories is interactive in nature, and therefore students who learn engineering through online platforms can face many challenges with labs, which were frequently documented during the recent pandemic. To address those reported challenges, innovative online lab learning modules were developed and learning strategies were implemented in five courses in electrical engineering, Circuits I, Electronics I, Electronics II, Signals and Systems, and Microcomputers I, through which students gain solid foundation before students take on senior design projects.
Lab modules with open-ended design learning experience by using a lab-in-a-box approach were developed where students can solve lab problems with multiple approaches that allow problem solving independently and collaboratively. Because this innovative lab design allows problem solving at various cognitive levels, it is better suited for concept exploration and collaborative lab learning environments as opposed to the traditional lab works with a “cookbook” approach that tend to lead students to follow certain procedures for expected solutions with the absence of problem exploration stage. In addition to the open-ended lab modules, course instructors formed online lab groups through which students shared the entire problem-solving process from ideas formation to solutions through trial and error.
To investigate the effectiveness of the open-ended online lab learning experiences, students in all courses got randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Students in the control group learned in labs through learning materials that are aligned with core concepts by completing required procedures, whereas students in the experimental group learned through inquiry-based labs learning materials that required them to work in teams by integrating core concepts together to find solutions with multiple approaches. To maximize the online lab learning effect and to replicate the way industry, commerce and research practice, instructor structured cooperative learning strategies were applied along with pre-lab simulations and videos.
The research results showed that generally students in the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in labs especially with more advanced concept understanding and applications, but showed mixed results for the overall class performance based on their course learning outcomes such as quizzes, lab reports, and tests. Further, survey results showed that 72% of students reported open-ended lab learning helped them learn better. According to interviews, the initial stage of working with team members was somewhat challenging to find time to work together for discussion and problem solving. Yet, through many communication tools, such as course LMS and mobile apps they were able to collaborate on lab problems, which also led them to build learning communities that went beyond the courses.