Abstract:

Traditional higher education has temporally been forced to fully switch to distance learning due to COVID19 health restrictions. For certain fields in which the learning process necessarily comprises high load of essential practical skills acquired at laboratories, such as Electrical Machines in the field of Electrical Engineering, this transformation shall not be regarded as a hurdle but as an opportunity to enhance students’ learning experience and effectiveness.

In this regard, well-designed computer simulations have proven to be the best alternative to face-to-face laboratory activities, as they succeed not only in being a close replica of the laboratory experience but also in focusing students’ attention on certain aspects and in helping to engage students actively. Nevertheless, the success of this virtual experience goes beyond and relies on other crucial aspects: it should be challenging according to students’ experience and acquired skills level in each course, it should imperatively go along with a functional support structure and it needs to be in constant improvement. Only when all these practical factors are put into place, a high-value enriching learning experience is delivered to students.

The approach has been tested in two different courses, both belonging to the same engineering undergraduate curricula, but one as a core course on the third year and another as a specialization course on the fourth or final year of studies. Additionally, a course on the third year of a different engineering undergraduate curricula, whose students have another educational background, has also been involved. Therefore, different implementations of the virtual experience has been tested. Overall students’ performance and the results achieved so far show the enormous potential of this approach to reinforce the transfer of knowledge and skills in the near future of modern engineering education.

Keywords:

Distance learning, Practical, Laboratory, Engineering, Electrical Machines, Electrical Engineering, University, Undergraduate.