Experimental Learning in Mechatronics: The Lab in your pocket

Abstract

Mechatronics is a thematic and a cross-disciplinary academic subject where the education typically focuses on a hands-on approach; experiments, project-organized and problem-based student activities. Examples of themes are robotics, smart products and embedded systems. The project 'The Lab in you pocket' aims at investigating the possibilities of students to have constant access to adequate equipment, portable hardware, web-based communication, necessary other material as well as interesting projects that stimulates active problem-solving activities. The basic idea of the project is that this access in combination with exercises and projects that stimulates problem-solving activities will gain a greater activity and interest for the students, and further to gain a greater understanding for the subject of Mechatronics. The assessment of the activities will be based on a comparative study that involves students taking the same course but with traditional laboratory-based exercises. These assessments will be based on the students own descriptions of their situation, gathered primarily in interviews, as well as on independent analysis's of the actual results of the course in terms of test results and the outcome of the experimental projects. The project started in July 2001 with the development of the hardware modules and the projects as well as with a study of the necessary changes to existing courses in Electrical Engineering, Microcontrollers and Mechatronics to prepare these courses to the changing teaching strategy. During the first semester of 2002 the concept will be introduced in four courses in Electrical Engineering and Basic Microcontroller Theory, courses with from four to eight credits followed by the total of approximately 400 students. In each course two teams of students will use the concept; one team with 20 randomly chosen students (20 students from two similar courses) and one team with 20 volunteers. The team with the volunteers will act as a reference group where discussions regarding the administration of the projects will be held, which projects to use, as well as more general issues regarding the entire course. These discussions will be used as reference material when the final implementation is due. The team with the randomly chosen students will work with their projects without interfering discussions regarding the project, and the results will be evaluated after the end of the course. All other students will not be part of the project, and therefore do their projects and experiment in a traditional laboratory setting. These students, however, will act as a reference group. During the last phase of the project, the second semester of 2002, the results from the experiments with the four courses will be analysed and necessary changes will be made in the material, projects, experiments and exercises. The aim of this last phase is to present a concept that can be used in full scale in all courses from the beginning of the second semester of 2002.