There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Remote laboratories have been introduced during the last few decades into engineering education processes as well as integrated within e-learning frameworks offered to engineering and science students. Remote laboratories are also being used to support life-long learning and student's autonomous learning activities. In this paper, after a brief overview of state-of-the-art technologies in the development of remote laboratories and presentation of recent and interesting examples of remote laboratories in several areas related with industrial electronics education, some current trends and challenges are also identified and discussed.

Current Trends in Remote Laboratories

This paper presents an approach to design Electronic Systems Curricula for making electronics more appealing to students. Since electronics is an important grounding for other disciplines (computer science, signal processing, and communications), this approach proposes the development of multidisciplinary projects using the project-based learning (PBL) strategy for increasing the attractiveness of the curriculum. The proposed curriculum structure consists of eight courses: four theoretical courses and four PBL courses (including a compulsory Master's thesis). In PBL courses, the students, working together in groups, develop multidisciplinary systems, which become progressively more complex. To address this complexity, the Department of Electronic Engineering has invested in the last five years in many resources for developing software tools and a common hardware. This curriculum has been evaluated successfully for the last four academic years: the students have increased their interest in electronics and have given the courses an average grade of more than 71% for all PBL course evaluations (data extracted from students surveys). The students have also acquired new skills and obtained very good academic results: the average grade was more than 74% for all PBL courses. An important result is that all students have developed more complex and sophisticated electronic systems, while considering that the results are worth the effort invested

A project-based learning approach to design electronic systems curricula

presents an overview of experiences related to remote laboratory usage for teaching and learning processes. This book was written by a group of authors under the supervision of editors Luis Gomes and Javier Garcia-Zubia. Gomes orga-nized a very successful special section in the December 2007 issue of

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Advances on remote laboratories and e-learning experiences

The student’s performance prediction is an important research topic because it can help teachers prevent students from dropping out before final exams and identify students that need additional assistance. The objective of this study is to predict the difficulties that students will encounter in a subsequent digital design course session. We analyzed the data logged by a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) system called digital electronics education and design suite (DEEDS) using machine learning algorithms. The machine learning algorithms included an artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machines (SVMs), logistic regression, Naive bayes classifiers and decision trees. The DEEDS system allows students to solve digital design exercises with different levels of difficulty while logging input data. The input variables of the current study were average time, total number of activities, average idle time, average number of keystrokes and total related activity for each exercise during individual sessions in the digital design course; the output variables were the student(s) grades for each session. We then trained machine learning algorithms on the data from the previous session and tested the algorithms on the data from the upcoming session. We performed k-fold cross-validation and computed the receiver operating characteristic and root mean square error metrics to evaluate the models’ performances. The results show that ANNs and SVMs achieve higher accuracy than do other algorithms. ANNs and SVMs can easily be integrated into the TEL system; thus, we would expect instructors to report improved student’s performance during the subsequent session.

Using machine learning to predict student difficulties from learning session data

Deeds is a simulation environment for e-learning in digital electronics. The simulators cover combinational and sequential logic networks, finite state-machine design, and microcomputer interfacing and programming. They are integrated together, and therefore allow the design and test of embedded digital systems. The environment guides students' activities by delivering learning materials through specialized browsers. An extensive collection of learning materials is available. This paper includes an example of activity on a problem assignment.

A Simulation Environment for e-Learning in Digital Design

The mission of the NetPro European project is to develop project-based learning through the Internet The NetPro project is creating tools and services to facilitate communication and collaboration between distant students, and to manage access and control of project deliverables NetPro project teams form cross-institutional learning communities This new learning environment is a distributed system that facilitates sharing and peer reviewing of project deliverables and interaction in special interest group discussions, regardless of how students are organized locally The outcome of the project also includes practical handbooks for students, tutors, and trainers to support them in making full and effective use of the learning environment NetPro methodologies and tools are being developed by running pilot projects: the four streams of pilots are briefly described in the paper A formal evaluation process is an integral part of the project and its preliminary outcomes are discussed (Author/AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document

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NetPro: methodologies and tools for Project Based Learning in Internet

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and characteristics of an arbitrary waveform generator, built at the Biophysical and Electronic Engineering Division of the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Genoa, which exhibits the following features: a) The signal waveform is any band-limited periodic signal, whose frequency content ranges from 0.125 mHz up to 30 MHz. The low-frequency limit has been chosen in order to meet the needs of bioengineering, mechanical, and chemical applications. The high-frequency limit covers, for instance, TV and image processing applications. b) The noise level is at least 66 dB below the maximum signal level. c) Typical distortion is less than -66 dB. d) The generator's performance can be easily improved, depending on the availability of up-to-date solid-state devices, without changing its design.

Design and Construction of an Arbitrary Waveform Generator

The electronic laboratory: traditional, simulated or remote?

The NetPro project creates models, methods, tools and materials for network-based project learning in engineering education. This new environment is a distributed system that facilitates sharing and peer reviewing of project deliverables and interaction in special interest group discussions. The paper presents as an example the pilot course on Electronic Systems Design and its preliminary evaluation.

Giuliano Donzellini

Papers

A Simulation Environment for e-Learning in Digital Design

NetPro: methodologies and tools for Project Based Learning in Internet

Design and Construction of an Arbitrary Waveform Generator

The electronic laboratory: traditional, simulated or remote?

Electronic systems design: An experiment of project-based learning on network