Teaching Electronic Circuit Fundamentals via Remote Laboratory Curriculum
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Biomedical Engineering Education (Ó 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s43683-020-00008-x
Teaching Tips - Special Issue (COVID)
Teaching Electronic Circuit Fundamentals via Remote Laboratory Curriculum NIMA ALAMATSAZ1,2 and ANTJE IHLEFELD
1
1
Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; and 2Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ 07102, USA (Received 29 June 2020; accepted 21 July 2020)
CHALLENGE STATEMENT The course ‘‘Electrical Fundamentals’’ (EF) is a core requirement for all undergraduate students in our biomedical engineering program. The curriculum introduces general principles of device development for electronics-based bioinstrumentation, comprehensively covering foundational acquisition concepts for bioelectric signals. Laboratory-based learning modules provide hands-on experience with circuit fundamentals. We here introduce our six-hour lab curriculum for distance learning, which we developed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The learning outcomes for the lab curriculum are twofold. The first learning outcome enables students to design and analyze basic electric circuits of resistors, capacitors and operational amplifiers (op-amps). The second learning outcome teaches students to interpret signal characteristics using core bioinstrumentation equipment, including oscilloscope, function generator and multimeter. Moreover, at this stage in the EF students’ curriculum, the concept of filters is still in progress. Therefore, the lab curriculum builds up and deepens the theoretical concept of low- and high-pass filters through practical experimentation. Traditionally, our EF labs are taught in studio-style on campus where groups of students learn to use oscilloscopes, function generators, multimeters and breadboards. Here, the challenge is to replace these precision instruments with affordable, reliable and portable components that students could safely and robustly assemble at home. Moreover, the material needs to be engaging to nurture student interest. Fur-
Address correspondence to Antje Ihlefeld, Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. Electronic mail: [email protected]
thermore, some of our students have limited access to internet. To enable accessibility to all students, labs need to accommodate asynchronous learning. Finally, due to initial uncertainty during the COVID-19 outbreak, the lab curriculum needs to be designed such that single students can complete lab exercises independently, as opposed to working in groups.
NOVEL INITIATIVE The remote lab curriculum is taught synchronously in three two-hour sessions. A ratio of 10 students per teacher is desirable for effective real-time troubleshooting. Therefore, for our large undergraduate cohort, we recruit ‘‘peer mentors,’’ in addition to the EF instructor and teaching assistants. Peer mentors are outstanding undergraduate students who have previously taken the EF class, who are being mentored by the princ
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