New Directions In Engineering Education: The Development Of A Virtual Lab Course In Electronic Circuits At Michigan Technological University

The development of virtual education satisfying the needs of engineering education is getting increased attention in the current era of Web and virtual technologies. In this paper, we present the rationale, implementation and formative evaluation of a virtual lab environment for an electronic circuits course. The system, which is under development, has been designed as a supplement to a traditional course, providing an option to on-campus students. It is also intended overcome the barriers that nontraditional students, holding regular jobs and geographically separated from campus, face. The distance education option provides remote laboratory experiences, using a graphic interface that is equivalent to a real laboratory that traditional students experience.