A synchronous remote laboratory as an alternative to mechatronics engineering practical classes during the covid-19 pandemic
International Journal of Development Research
A synchronous remote laboratory as an alternative to mechatronics engineering practical classes during the covid-19 pandemic
Received 11th March, 2022; Received in revised form 19th April, 2022; Accepted 06th May, 2022; Published online 22nd June, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Ricardo Alexandre Diogo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The COVID-19 pandemic impelled many universities worldwide to temporally shut the door on in-person education. As a matter of fact, some education institutions opted to keep up the remote classes. Engineering programs, however, rely on educational technology laboratories to conduct practical activities. In this way, virtual experiments and a remote laboratory for synchronous classes were proposed as educational technologies in the Mechatronics Engineering undergraduate program. Given the described scenario, the present paper provides a proposal for a remote laboratory and carries out a research into the educational technology and student commitment. Results indicate that the remote laboratory in synchronous practical classes worked well towards the educational objectives of the Programmable Automation Controllers course. Additionally, students kept themselves committed throughout the academic semester.