Integrating Virtual Experiments and Hands-On Labs - A Synergistic Approach to Enhance Engineering Education (Project IVEHOL)

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The engineering education project entitled, Integrating Virtual Experiments and Hands-On Labs - A Synergistic Approach to Enhance Engineering Education (IVEHOL) will focus on the research, testing and evaluation of the effectiveness of the use of hands-on and virtual experiments in undergraduate engineering curricula, as well as novel hybrid laboratories developed specifically for this project. The project seeks to achieve three equally important goals, all related to the combined use of hands-on and simulation-based learning activities for undergraduate-level engineering: (1) research and evaluate the comparative impact of various pedagogical methods using hands-on, simulation-based, and hybrid activities in terms of their effects on knowledge, skills, and attitudes; (2) develop hybrid labs for selected engineering content areas that exemplify various ways of integrating hands-on and simulation-based activities; and (3) produce a set of general pedagogical and curriculum development guidelines for how to combine actual and virtual activities in engineering education.Project IVEHOL will research the effectiveness and impact of hands-on labs, virtual experiments and hybrid activities on different learning and teaching styles and instructional settings. The project will create innovative hybrid activities that logically integrate realistic simulations with either traditional college laboratory experiments, which employ educational labware, or with industrial testing and control equipment used by businesses and industry for training engineers and technicians. Integrated simulations expand hands-on labs by providing an inside view of the process and thus it can bridge hands-on observations and measurements with solid science, technology, and mathematics.