Virtual Engineering Laboratories:
Design and experiments
Pieter J. Mosterman, Marcel A.M. Dorlandt, J. Olin Campbell, Craig Burow,
Reni Bouw, Arthur J. Brodersen and John R. Bourne
Center for Intelligent Systems
Abstract
This paper describes the creation and testing of computer-
simulated laboratories for use in undergraduate engineering
education. The design and implementation of a `virtual
laboratory' that closely mimics the capabilities of a
physical laboratory are explained. Experiments that compare
time and learning gains of students using physical and
virtual laboratories are discussed. Experimental results
indicate that students who use the virtual laboratory prior
to conducting the same experiments in a physical laboratory
are able to complete the physical laboratory in a much
shorter time, require less assistance, and also report that
they are very satisfied with their laboratory experience.
The zipped up
Microsoft Word 6.0a version of this paper is 90371 bytes.
The scanned pdf version is 4,066 kbytes.