Linked: The New Science of Networks

Design With Operational Amplifiers And Analog Integrated Circuits

This paper describes a new approach for a course and laboratory designed to allow students to develop low-cost prototypes of robotic and other embedded devices that feature Internet connectivity, I/O, networking, a real-time operating system (RTOS), and object-oriented C/C++ The application programming interface (API) libraries provided permit students to work at a higher level of abstraction A low-cost 32-bit SOC RISC microcontroller module with flash memory, numerous I/O interfaces, and on-chip networking hardware is used to build prototypes A cloud-based C/C++ compiler is used for software development All student files are stored on a server, and any Web browser can be used for software development Breadboards are used in laboratory projects to rapidly build prototypes of robots and embedded devices using the microcontroller, networking, and other I/O subsystems on small breakout boards The commercial breakout boards used provide a large assortment of modern sensors, drivers, display ICs, and external I/O connectors Resources provided include eBooks, laboratory assignments, and extensive Wiki pages with schematics and sample microcontroller application code for each breakout board

An Embedded Systems Laboratory to Support Rapid Prototyping of Robotics and the Internet of Things

Online laboratories have traditionally been split between virtual labs, with simulated components; and remote labs, with real components. The former tend to provide less realism but to be easily scalable and less expensive to maintain, while the latter are fully real but tend to require a higher maintenance effort and be more error-prone. This technical paper describes an architecture for hybrid labs merging the two approaches, in which virtual and real components interact with each other. The goal is to leverage the advantages of each type of lab. The architecture is fully web-based and multiplatform, which is in line with the industry and the remote laboratory community trends. Only recently has this become technically feasible for graphic-intensive laboratories due to previous limitations in browser-based graphical technologies. This architecture relies on the recent HTML5 and WebGL standards to overcome these limitations, and makes use of the Unity technology. To ensure that the proposed architecture is suitable, we set requirements based on the literature, we compare it with other approaches, and we examine its scope, strengths, and weaknesses. Additionally, we illustrate it with a concrete hybrid lab and we evaluate its benefits and potential through educational experiments.

Towards New Multiplatform Hybrid Online Laboratory Models

A computer-aided learning method and apparatus based on a super-recommendation generator, which is configured to assess a user's or a student's understanding in a subject, reward the user who has reached one or more milestones in the subject, further the user's understanding in the subject through relationship learning, reinforce the user's understanding in the subject through reviews, and restrict the user from enjoying entertainment materials under certain condition, with the entertainment materials requiring a device to fulfill its entertainment purpose. The generator does not have to be configured to perform all of the above functions.

Computer-aided learning system and method

The creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is promoting a change toward a new model of education focused on the student. It is impelling methodological innovation processes in many European universities, leading more teachers to apply methods based on active and cooperative learning in their classrooms. However, the successful implementation of these methodologies involves changes to a significant portion of the teaching process, from instructional design and organization to development of learning materials, and even teacher activity inside the classroom. Three years' experience of introducing active learning techniques in microprocessors courses have made the authors well-acquainted with these challenges. This research analyzes the importance of different factors in achieving greater student engagement and satisfaction with the learning process.

The Key Factors of an Active Learning Method in a Microprocessors Course

Este articulo presenta unas aplicaciones informaticasque tratan de cubrir un espacio que, en opinion de los autores , existia en el campo de las Tecnologias de la Informacion aplicadas a la Ensenanza. Hasta el momento, el docente que trataba de emplear algun problema de Ensenanza Asistida por Ordenador (EAO) se encontraba dos alternativas: emplear programas cerrados con los problemas de enfoque , contenidos y disponibilidad inherentes a los mismos o desarrollar sus propias aplicaciones, lo que requeria elevados conocimientos informaticos. Los autores plantean una solucion intermedia: los Sistemas de Autor Orientados a un Fin Educativo Especifico (SAFEE). Estos sistemas se basan en tres pilares: flexibilidad en la generacion de recursos, sencillez en su utilizacion y uso abierto.

Sistemas de autor orientados a un fin educativo específico

La consideracion de que el abandono en la ensenazna superior es un problema de primera magnitud esta fuera de duda, tanto en paises desarrollados como en los que se encuentran en vias de desarrollo. Es una preocupacion compartida por America Latina y Europa ya que las cifras de abandono de los estudiantes que se incorporan a la Universidad se situan en porcentajes que van entre el 30% y el 50%. Se buscan medidas para reducir el abandono y mejorar la eficiencia de los sistemas universitarios, pero ante esta inquietud generalizada, este articulo plantea alguna preguntas previas y que condicionan otras muchas decisiones: ?Son todos los abandonos del mismo tipo? ?Cuales son las caracteristicas asociadas a cada uno? ?Son las mismas medidas las que hay que adoptar en cada caso para reducir la tasa de abandono?. La vision de la sociedad sobre el abandono no discrimina entre diferentes tipos de abandono y esta vision es alimentada por los medios de difusion que transmiten la idea de abandono como las perdidas que se producen entre “entrada” y “salida” a nivel de titulacion. La metrica oficialmente establecida en Espana para definir la “Tasa de abandono” incide en esta idea de “perdida del sistema” sin caracterizar si esos abandonos son del sistema universitario, del campo cientifico que estaba estudiando u otra consideracion. En la literutura especializada tampoco es frecuente tratar el abandono de forma diferenciada. En este articulo se muestran los resultados de una investigacion realizada en el ano 2010 con alrededor de mil alumnos de la Universidad Politecnica de Madrid que permite dar una primera respuesta a esta cuestion. Las conclusiones obtenidas senalan que existen diferencias significativas tanto en los motivos que han llevado al abandono como en la vision que sobre el mismo tienen un ano despues de haber dejado los estudios. El analisis de correspondencias permite tambien mostrar de una forma visual en un mapa perceptual las similitudes y diferencias que los tipos de abandono tienen respecto a los factores analizados.

Caracterización de los tipos de abandono. Dividamos el problema y venceremos mas fácilmente

Experimental training is essential in developing the whole set of skills that an engineer must acquire. Therefore, any resource that involves an improvement in their practical training is an issue of interest to the academia. eLab3D is an electronics remote laboratory based on a configurable hardware and 3-D virtual world, that allows students to carry out real experiments with analog electronic circuits. This paper provides a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats analysis of remote laboratories compiled from recent publications and presents some relevant results of the use of eLab3D in real educational contexts, the teachers’ assessment of its potential and the students’ perceived satisfaction.

Remote Laboratory eLab3D: A Complementary Resource in Engineering Education

The social network analysis (SNA) is an approach that can be applied as a complement to other analysis (such as statistical) in order to obtain other valuable information. The social network analysis has been used in several initiatives showing that it is an approach that can contribute in building the semantic web. Within the project Technologies Applied to Electronics Teaching (TAEE) there are biannual conferences (it has been organized since 1996) and have accumulated a significant amount of data resulting from the conferences held. All of this information constitutes a data source that should be exploited and that can provide meaningful information. In this document we describe, how to social network analysis has been used on data sources generated by user communities, in order to obtain some semantic artifacts, like ontologies. Also describes how to was applied the social network analysis and its metrics on the information generated in the TAEE congresses to answer a set of questions (What are the relationships and the level of cohesion of the different organizations (at the level of Spain and across continents) involved in TAEE? How have evolutioned the thematics covered in the conference?, What are the new ontological additions in technology over the years?, and How have evolutioned the thematics in the research and studies related to teaching electronics?) formulated by the organizers of the congresses and that through other approaches would have been a large task and complicated. The answers to the questions can provide us important information about the behavior and characteristics of the elements present in TAEE conferences, furthermore being an element for making decisions on future initiatives with the same style of TAEE.

Jesús Arriaga

Papers

The Key Factors of an Active Learning Method in a Microprocessors Course

Sistemas de autor orientados a un fin educativo específico

Caracterización de los tipos de abandono. Dividamos el problema y venceremos mas fácilmente

Remote Laboratory eLab3D: A Complementary Resource in Engineering Education

Meta-analysis of the TAEE project applying social network analysis