The electronic laboratory: traditional, simulated or remote?

Laboratory activities are essential components of electronic engineering pedagogy. The introduction of complex solid state components and the development of software simulation and design techniques has deeply affected the organisation and use of educational laboratories. In particular, for digital design, traditional hardware laboratories are replaced by “virtual” environments, where simulated components are used instead of real ones. The diffusion of the Internet has further modified the education environment, with the introduction of remotely-controlled laboratories. The chapter explores the issues relevant for the pedagogical use of virtual and remote labs in the field of electronic engineering, using as examples two projects developed in our institution and used in our courses. Deeds is a learning environment for digital electronics based on a set of simulators and web resources. It enables integrated simulation of combinational and sequential logic networks, finite state machine and microcomputer boards. The Deeds has capabilities of guiding student’s activities by delivering learning materials through specialized browsers and it has been specifically designed to support distance education. ISILab is an environment currently used to deliver remote access to experiments of electronics. Students can practice with electronic instruments and measurement methods to execute real experiments on analogue and digital circuits. The experiments deal with basic electronic measurements, such as the delays in digital circuits or the gain and the distortion of amplifiers, and let to use devices such as waveform generators and oscilloscopes.