An Automated Support System in a Remote Laboratory in the Context of Online Learning

Considine, Hugh; Nafalski, Andrew; Milosz, Marek

Remote engineering and science laboratories are gaining an increased prominence due to its versatility, ease of use 24/7, most likely open and shared access to any components, setups and instruments, in reconfigurable circuits, and laboratory establishments, including quite unique and expensive ones. The remote laboratories are increasingly shared nationally and internationally mainly with a free access or less so in a pay-for-fee use. Due to the universal time-wise access, human tutoring in remote laboratories, especially synchronous is not realistic. Therefore, an automated support for the students practicing the remote experiments, missing a human tutor is being developed. The system analyses common students’ mistakes in the remote laboratory and identifies remedial actions. Students are informed about their mistakes, extracted from learning analytics of the remote laboratory, in order to correct and revoke their actions. The paper reports on learning habits of the students, their backgrounds and their perception of online learning preceding and following the use of the automated tutoring system.