Remotely Accessible Laboratory Approach to Undergraduate Education

Esche, S. K., Prasad, M. G. & Chassapis, C.
Engineering Education Beyond the Millenium, Proceedings of the 2000 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, June 18 - 21, 2000.

Abstract

Today, the hands-on activities typically associated with educational student laboratories are widely recognized by all constituents of academia as imperative and integral elements of modern engineering curricula. This trend is evidenced through the new review criteria applied by educational accreditation boards such as ABET and recent funding initiatives of governmental, charitable and industrial foundations as well as corporate and alumni sponsors. At Stevens Institute of Technology, an appreciably modified undergraduate engineering curriculum is currently being implemented that acknowledges the trend of enhancing traditional lecture-based courses with a design spine and a laboratory experience that propagates through the entire curriculum. The incorporation of design and laboratory components into all engineering courses places a significant strain on the spatial, temporal and fiscal resources of the institute. To accommodate the anticipated enrollment, new concepts for the implementation of affordable integrated experimental and design laboratories had to be developed that allow for the required student through-put using the limited existing laboratory space without compromising the educational value.

This paper presents the development and implementation of an internet-based, remotely accessible student laboratory approach as a means to accomplish an affordable integration of laboratory experience into the classroom. This approach was first implemented at Stevens into a laboratory to accompany a sophomore-level course on dynamical systems. The presentation of this paper focuses on the general concept of remote experimentation and analyzes its advantages and shortcomings. The experimental setup of a muffler system is used to highlight the cross-fertilization between abstract concepts, experimental validation, and design applications achieved through the integration of course and laboratory material.