Interactive Classroom For Experiential And Collaborative Learning

. A major task to develop a new teaching laboratory for the Electrical and Electronic Systems (EES) was undertaken during Spring 2000. This laboratory is used by four courses in the Electrical and Electronic Systems area: Circuit Analysis, Electronics, Sensors and Transducers and Motors and Power Distribution. Each of these courses has a laboratory component. The original facility had limited space and equipment that required students to work in groups of four or five students. Typically, only one or two students actively participated in the assignment while the remaining students observed. During the exercises, the major goal of students was to finish as quickly as possible and leave the laboratory. Recognizing the deficiencies in the laboratory and the desire to enhance a student’s experience in experimentation, several features were identified that would be beneficial for the new facility. Each student should be able to actively participate in the hands-on learning exercise. Traditional instructional techniques limit the interaction between the instructor and student during the class session; therefore, the new facility should include technologies that would foster more direct interactions between the instructor and students. Background. Many books and research articles have documented the different ways people learn. People learn new material through the processing of information that was captured by visual, auditory or kinetic means. Traditional instructional methods require students to learn by listening to lectures and reading material. Usually, kinetic learning methods involve laboratory exercises, homework assignments, and design projects. Active and collaborative instructional methods for improving the learning process of engineering students have been published. Students exposed to active instructional methods developed improved problem solving skills when compared to students learning in traditional learning environments. 1,2 These methods incorporate technologies such as wireless keypads that actively engage students during the lecture. The benefits of collaborative methods where students work on projects together is dependent upon the group dynamics. 3,4 According to Darlin and McShannon 3 , traditional methods were successful for those students who generally are successful in engineering while the success for high-risk students increased when the interaction learning was conducted with the faculty member. Students can increase their problem solving and critical thinking skills when given an opportunity to witness how an expert approaches and solves a problem. 5 Learning these skills requires a student to acquire expert knowledge,