Abstract:

Gaining experiences in laboratory-based learning environments is a central pillar for students within the engineering education (Feisel and Rosa 2005). With the advent of remote and virtual laboratories the integration of LA and especially of MLA becomes increasingly interesting for laboratory-based learning environments (e. g. Wuttke et al. 2015, Hawlitschek et al. 2019, Ochoa 2017). Moreover can be expected, that the digital change is currently having a strong dynamic effect on all areas of engineering education including lab-based environments, which is particularly evident in the increasing shift of value creation from the physical to the digital world based on information and communication technology, also known as Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e. V. 2016).

In the course of these developments, the environments for laboratory-based learning evolve to a greater extent in the direction of hybrid learning environments, in which the classical laboratory is extended and supplemented by digital components. The deliberate expansion of digitalisation of the laboratory environment in engineering education, in order to teach IoT-topics, opens up new didactic possibilities such as the integration of LA. In this context, the Project Open Digital Lab for You (DigiLab4U) started with the aim to work out the potentials and limits of LA for laboratory-based learning in Higher Engineering Education.

In this paper, a hybrid laboratory scenario will be used as a prototyp to show how LA can be used for learning processes in a lab environment. In concrete, LA will be implemented in the lab-scenario of a RFID measuring chamber, which is located at the HFT Stuttgart and is currently beeing used in the 2nd semester of the Bachelor Information Logistics. This scenario currently includes working in a virtual and real measuring chamber and the learning process of the students is further supported with learning resources via the learning platform Moodle. In order to integrate LA into the lab-environment, in a first step the laboratory-based learning objectives are precisely defined and then assigned to possible LA indicators. In a second step, based on these indicators, the digital “traces that learners leave behind” in the hybrid lab environment, are collected with the aim to achieve meaningful results for LA (e. g. Duval 2012).

Within the scope of this paper we examine the following questions:
- Based on the protoyp, which data can be collected and are relevant in the hybrid laboratory-based learning environments to support learning- and asses learning-processes?
- Which student or teacher feedback can result from the generated data?
- Is it possible to find a connection between student involvement and lab performance?

The paper we will prototypically demonstrate how the data is collected, analysed and visualised for students and teachers to stimulate feedback processes. We show the approach, first prototypical examples and preliminary results.

Keywords:

Laboratory-based Learning, Learning Analytics, Higher Engineering Education, Internet of Things.