Implementation of Hands-on Home-based Laboratory for
Two Electrical Engineering Courses
(A Pilot Study)
Abstract
Across the spectrum of higher education the delivery of instruction is changing. These changes are predominantly driven by the shrinking pool of traditional 18-22 year old students, the need for working adults to remotely have access to education, and most recently, the abrupt shift to online instruction secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic. Engineering education is not immune to these new dynamics, and institutions need to plan and prepare to embrace new modalities of instruction. Historically, electrical engineering courses have had lab requirements that have involved physical presence in a laboratory with several pieces of test equipment available for testing circuits. In recent years, computer-based laboratory equipment has become available that can provide the same robustness needed to facilitate learning for online electrical engineering courses. A pilot study was conducted at our institution using a home-based laboratory for two electrical engineering courses (Microcontrollers and Electric Circuit Analysis). Presented will be the development of the labs, implementation of the pilot study, description of the labs, and assessment.
Colonel, USAF (ret)
Amateur Radio (FCC license: AE7AX)
Member: IEEE, ASEE, ARRL
Robert Kubichek received his Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming in 1985. He has held positions at Boeing, the BDM Corporation, and the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA). He taught at the University of Wyoming for 29 years and retired in 2020. His research and teaching focus has been communications and digital signal processing.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6029-1896
University of Wyoming
[biography]
Cameron H. G. Wright, Ph.D., P.E., is Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY. He was previously Professor and Deputy Department Head in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the United States Air Force Academy, and served as an R&D engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force for over 20 years. He received the B.S.E.E. (summa cum laude) from Louisiana Tech University in 1983, the M.S.E.E. from Purdue University in 1988, and the Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. Cam's research interests include signal and image processing, real-time embedded computer systems, biomedical instrumentation, and engineering education. He is a member of ASEE, IEEE, SPIE, BMES, NSPE, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu. His teaching awards include the University of Wyoming Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award (2012), the Tau Beta Pi WY-A Undergraduate Teaching Award (2011), the IEEE UW Student Branch's Outstanding Professor of the Year (2005 and 2008), the UW Mortar Board "Top Prof" award (2005, 2007, and 2015), the Outstanding Teaching Award from the ASEE Rocky Mountain Section (2007), the John A. Curtis Lecture Award from the Computers in Education Division of ASEE (1998, 2005, and 2010), and the Brigadier General Roland E. Thomas Award for outstanding contribution to cadet education (both 1992 and 1993) at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is an active ABET evaluator and an NCEES PE exam committee member.
Steven F. Barrett, Ph.D., P.E., received the BS Electronic Engineering Technology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1979, the M.E.E.E. from the University of Idaho at Moscow in 1986, and the Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1993. He was formally an active duty faculty member at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado and is now the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at the University of Wyoming and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is a member of IEEE (senior) and Tau Beta Pi (chief faculty advisor). His research interests include digital and analog image processing, computer-assisted laser surgery, and embedded controller systems. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Wyoming and Colorado. He co-wrote with Dr. Daniel Pack several textbooks on microcontrollers and embedded systems. In 2004, Barrett was named "Wyoming Professor of the Year" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and in 2008 was the recipient of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Professional Engineers in Higher Education, Engineering Education Excellence Award.
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