Lab-in-a-Box: Techniques and Technologies to Manage Large and Not So Large Laboratory Courses

Lab-in-a-Box: Techniques and Technologies to Manage Large and Not so Large Laboratory Courses A project known as Lab-in-a-Box (LiaB) was developed in 2004 by faculty members in the XElectrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department to improve student learning by allowing students to make their own observations on concrete examples of fundamental concepts in electrical engineering. LiaB is a set of ‘hands-on’ exercises in which students design, build, and test at home circuits using an inexpensive electronics kit, digital multimeter, and a USB oscilloscope and, thus, does not require the same resources as a traditional experimental lab classt o implement. The d.c. and a.c. circuits LiaB-based courses were introduced into the X BSEE and BSCpE curricula six years ago. In 2009, the circuits and electronics courses taken by our mechanical engineering undergraduate students were revised to include LiaB experiments instead of the traditional classroom laboratory component. This has allowed the ECE department to reconfigure some of its laboratory classrooms into open space for senior design projects and extracurricular design competitions. More recently, the mechanical engineering faculty members have begun to use the LiaB kit in their senior technical elective on Mechatronics and to prototype electronic circuits in several ME senior design projects. The inclusion of LiaB in the ECE and ME curriculum has received very positive comments from students and faculty members as well as from parents and visitors to the ECE and ME departments. Overall, the project has been quite successful within our institution and has generated significant interest outside of it. The pedagogical approach with some modifications has been adopted by Y in 2007 and two other community colleges within Z. We expect that the list of schools incorporating this pedagogical approach will expand as W and several 2- and 4-year institutions of higher learning outside of the state are considering adopting the LiaB kit and the instructional methodology.Several enhancements to improve student learning were developed over the years with support obtained from a National Science Foundation Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Phase II grant, awarded in 2008. These include institution of laboratory lectures, which are delivered face-to-face in the first laboratory course and are online in the second course; the creation of report templates; generation of supplemental learning materials for each experiment, which are posted on the course Scholar site; and development of multimedia tutorials on measurement techniques, PSpice simulations, and calculations using MATLAB, which are posted online and are embedded as hotlinks in appropriate report templates. However, several issues pertaining to course management have persisted since the inception of LiaB. Two trends in higher education have aggravated the situation. First, reductions in state funding experienced by our institutions over the past decade has resulted in a decrease in available resources to support these courses, as well as the other courses in the departments. Secondly, the increasing undergraduate enrollment in engineering has meant that we are teaching significantly more students with considerably less resources. We have developed several strategies and implemented certain technologies to continue to deliver the same level of instruction, require the same level of effort – and learning –by the students while reducing the workload on the course graders, graduate teaching assistants,and instructors. A summary of the course management issues that are shared between X and Y as well as the ones that are specific to each institution will be described. Software to assist with the course management has been written in-house using Visual Basic, MATLAB, and bash script.These and other tools, such as Cameyo, and techniques will be discussed. The improvements in course management observed when these tools were adopted at X and Y will be detailed.