TITLE:
A Blended Lab on Phase-Sensitive Demodulation for Undergraduate Electronic Circuit Design Course
AUTHORS:
Wuliang Yin, Qian Zhao, Ziqi Chen, Zhigang Qu
KEYWORDS:
Blended Lab, Engineering Education, Circuit Design, Mobile App
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.13 No.10,
October
27,
2022
ABSTRACT: This paper proposes the blended lab concept for mitigating the lack of practical lab sessions due to constraints on hardware resources or pandemic such as COVID. Virtual labs, which use computer aided simulation to enhance learning experience, can replace some aspects of the practical lab activities, but not all. Deficiency in practical skills caused by the lack of practical lab sessions can be observed evidently from post-pandemic students. The proposed blended lab combines computer-based simulation with practical activities that can be carried out readily at home. This concept has been applied in an undergraduate electronic circuit design course at Manchester and Tianjin. Students use mobile phones as simple signal generators/scopes to visualise sound/light/audio-jack signals from circuits built on breadboard at home. This approach has proved to enhance student experience when physical lab is limited.