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This paper reports on a study carried out in the framework of the Go-lab Goes Africa project, in which teachers implemented online and offline Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILS) in their classes using the Go-lab platform. After a brief description of the Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) methodology, of lab work and in particular virtual labs for STEM education, and of the process of preparing teachers for using IBL in class, we highlight the methodology used in this study, and finally report the results. Our results show that (i) the introduction and class enactment of a digital inquiry-based learning platform in Africa is possible (although challenging with respect to pedagogy and infrastructure), and (ii) does lead to student learning, (iii) for this to take place teacher training with respect to the Inquiry Based Learning methodology, and the development of an ILS are necessary, (iv) the digital infrastructure at school is sufficient for offline use, however, poses problems when online ILSs are used, and (v) a local partner needs to provide assistance, mainly to set up the infrastructure (installation of the ILS and the viewer) at the beginning of the lesson, and to assist students with computer related queries.

A textbook and traditional classroom only approach in teaching power electronics can mean that design of power electronic circuits could be isolated and will be difficult to absorb by students. If we add to this, the sudden switch to virtual delivery of lectures then the challenge to engage the students in the learning process of power electronics could be even more complicated. In this paper, a virtual way of teaching power electronic circuits without much compromise with real practical environment is presented. A boost and flyback converter circuits are presented as a case study where all practical parameters are considered in the ‘virtual’ practical circuit.

Ponencia de la conferencia "10th IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference, EDUCON 2019; Rixos Premium Dubai Conference CenterDubai; United Arab Emirates; 9 April 2019 through 11 April 2019" This paper describes an ongoing educational innovation project focused of improving the practical education of engineering students, in the context of a purely online education model. A rich toolbox of online, virtual and remote labs is described. Using this toolbox, several strategies for providing practical education and their combinations will be evaluated, and a set of guidelines and recommendations for education practitioners will be provided as the main output of this research.

Virtual laboratories offer access to virtual science experiments and they are recognized as pedagogically effective in increasing students' interest in science, as well as students' motivation and engagement. Moreover, the proliferation of mobile devices has created a growing trend for developing mobile virtual labs. However, the process of designing and developing such mobile apps should be based on specific guidelines towards addressing the technical restrictions of mobile devices and improving end-user experience. Existing guidelines that aim to facilitate this process are the App Quality Alliance (AQuA) guidelines. In this paper, we identify common functionalities of existing mobile virtual labs and we exploit AQuA guidelines towards proposing a method for developing mobile virtual labs. Additionally, we apply this method for developing a mobile virtual lab, namely ASK Mobile Virtual Laboratory (ASK-MVL) and we perform an initial evaluation in terms of user experience.

Remote and virtual laboratories aim to overcome typical constraints of traditional laboratories and offer access to laboratory experiments without location and time restrictions. Additionally, the continuous growth of mobile devices’ ownership, as well as their increased technical capabilities, have created an emerging trend for supporting mobile access to virtual and remote labs. Existing approaches in this direction are focusing on developing device-dependent mobile apps for accessing the experiment(s) of the original remote or virtual lab. This creates difficulties related to (a) seamless access to experiments of remote or virtual labs across various mobile devices and (b) additional costs that are needed for developing different versions of the same mobile app that meets the specific technical requirements of each mobile device. In this paper, we aim to address this issue by adopting a responsive design approach for developing mobile web apps towards providing seamless access through various mobile devices to existing virtual and remote labs.

This paper discusses an ongoing initiative aimed at promoting and implementing digital STEM education at secondary schools in Africa. This initiative, coined Go-Lab Goes Africa (GO-GA), is an innovation action supported by the European Commission through its H2020 Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The general vision and the implementation strategy are outlined in detail, as well as the challenges faced and results achieved during its first year.

The European Commission is funding a large-scale research project on federated online laboratories (Labs) for education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at School. The main educational focus is on inquiry learning and the main technological one is on personalized learning spaces. The learning spaces are offered through a single European social media portal supporting simultaneously teacher communities and student learning activities. This paper presents the general technical framework devised to support the construction and the exploitation of learning spaces, as well as the federation of online labs.

This paper reports on a study carried out in the framework of the Go-lab Goes Africa project, in which teachers implemented online and offline Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILS) in their classes using the Go-lab platform. After a brief description of the Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) methodology, of lab work and in particular virtual labs for STEM education, and of the process of preparing teachers for using IBL in class, we highlight the methodology used in this study, and finally report the results. Our results show that (i) the introduction and class enactment of a digital inquiry-based learning platform in Africa is possible (although challenging with respect to pedagogy and infrastructure), and (ii) does lead to student learning, (iii) for this to take place teacher training with respect to the Inquiry Based Learning methodology, and the development of an ILS are necessary, (iv) the digital infrastructure at school is sufficient for offline use, however, poses problems when online ILSs are used, and (v) a local partner needs to provide assistance, mainly to set up the infrastructure (installation of the ILS and the viewer) at the beginning of the lesson, and to assist students with computer related queries.