Collaborative Research: Portable Cyber-Laboratories: Virtual Instruments and Affordable Prototyping Kits to Enhance Learning and Improve Access to Electrical Engineering Education

工程-电气（55）这个项目，堪萨斯州立大学和东卡罗莱纳大学之间的合作努力，是开发移动的动手学习经验的电气工程概念和正式评估是否在家里进行的实验室是传统的讲座和实验室为基础的课程的有效补充。便携式实验室基于笔记本电脑和手持电脑上的创新虚拟仪器，与定制的低成本原型套件交互，并集成了即插即用数据采集单元。该项目团队正在开发一种负担得起的便携式电路原型制作能力，创建实验室体验（动手协议和软件界面），使学生能够在他们喜欢的环境中使用这些工具包，使用这些原型制作工具包开发讲座演示，并将这些讲座和实验室模块集成到现有课程中。评估工作由一名独立顾问领导，通过调查、概念清单、工程基础考试成绩和实验室直接观察来监测认知、情感和心理变化。项目材料和成果正通过网站张贴、会议介绍和期刊出版物以及通过与国家文书的联系传播。更广泛的影响包括材料和教学法的传播，提供实验室外的实验室经验的潜力，以及调查人员参与初中女生的特别推广计划。

Engineering - Electrical (55) This project, a collaborative effort between Kansas State University and East Carolina University, is developing mobile hands-on learning experiences for electrical engineering concepts and formally assessing whether laboratories performed at home are effective supplements for traditional lecture and laboratory based courses. The portable laboratory is based on innovative virtual instruments on laptop and handheld computers interacting with custom, low-cost prototyping kits integrated with plug-and-play data acquisition units. The project team is developing an affordable, portable circuit prototyping capability, creating laboratory experiences (hands-on protocols and software interfaces) that enable students to use the kits in their preferred environment, developing lecture demonstrations with these prototyping kits, and integrating these lecture and laboratory modules into existing courses. The evaluation effort, which is being led by an independent consultant, is monitoring cognitive, affective, and psychomotor changes using surveys, concept inventories, performance on the FFundamentals in Engineering Exam, and direct observation in the laboratory. Project materials and results are being disseminated through website postings, conference presentations, and journal publications and through connections with National Instruments. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the materials and pedagogy, the potential of providing laboratory experiences outside of the laboratory, and the investigators' involvement in a special outreach program for junior high school girls.