SPECIAL FOCUS PAPER DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES LAB Design and Evaluation of an Instructional Solar Energy Technologies Lab http://dx.doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v7iS1.1730 M. Al-Addous, C. B. Class German Jordanian University, Amman, Jordan Abstract—This paper presents a design for a solar energy lab that allows students to plan, install and evaluate differ- ent system architectures and gain relevant practical experi- ences. The addressed learning outcomes are analyzed based on the 13 learning outcomes defined by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as well as based on the taxonomy levels of the cognitive domain after Bloom. In this paper we present a sample lab assignment and map its tasks to the learning outcomes and cognitive domains. First results of qualitative student feedback are equally presented. Index Terms—solar energy; lab design; ABET I. INTRODUCTION Due to an ever increasing energy demand in industry, commerce and private households, increasing oil prices and the need to reduce greenhouse gases, renewable en- ergy solutions become more and more important. This is also reflected in new strategies and changes in the energy portfolios of many countries. In order to implement the new energy portfolios technologies of renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly popular. These solu- tions need to be adapted to the availability of specific energy resources like wind and sun and to the specific characteristics of the energy use (e.g. day time only or 24/7). Further research is required for improving the per- formance of current technologies and storing and trans- porting energy for times and places when and where the renewable energy resource is not available. This develop- ment leads to an increasing demand for well trained and highly skilled engineers that can plan, implement and improve the use of green technologies. For this reason engineering programs with focus on renewable energies become more and more attractive and important for the future of our modern societies. Engineering is a practical profession. Whereas sciences like physics are concentrating on understanding nature and natural laws, the main focus of the different engineering disciplines lies in developing and improving technical solutions to our daily problems by applying natural laws and using natural forces. Hands-on experiences and the development of practical skills are vital in engineering education. [1] states that “[o]ne of the unique features of an educational program in a practice-oriented discipline such as engineering is that of the live, hands-on laboratory and design experience.” Therefore, laboratories and prac- tical assignments always played an important role in suc- cessful engineering curricula. But the use of laboratories alone does not guarantee educational programs that train qualified engineers. Laboratories must be designed to allow for experiments that are well aligned with the de- fined learning outcomes and can train and foster the nec- essary skills of the students. Many physics, chemistry as well as computing labs provide enough resources for each student to carry out his experiments or her implementation tasks alone. Students can easily individualize their learning processes and gain relevant knowledge and skills. In other engineering fields, like e.g. solar energy, creating individual lab places and duplicating laboratory resources is often not possible. This can be due to the high costs and/or the large and specific space requirements for the relevant lab equipment. These labs equally must allow students to gain their individual experiences to develop the required knowledge and skills. New technologies and e-learning approaches are used to virtualize laboratory places, create simulation labs and allow more students to have access to practical experi- ences. Students may not have direct access to a physical laboratory as this might be located elsewhere and remote access must be provided [2]. These are valid and neces- sary extensions to real world labs, but it is equally of im- portance that students gain real world hands-on experi- ences with the technologies used. These experiences have different qualities as they involve real touch and feel ex- periences and students generally act more carefully as things can go wrong in the real world which may become costly or pose risks to the health of involved people. In order to train confident engineers that can handle the pres- sure often linked to dealing with dangerous material and with expensive and / or limited equipment the authors are convinced that it is highly desirable to enable all students to gain at least some experiences in real laboratories dur- ing their education. Laboratories that allow for the education of qualified engineers must be well designed and carefully imple- mented. Financial and safety restrictions, space and loca- tion requirements and the alignment with the targeted learning outcomes have to be taken into account during the laboratory design. This poses many challenges. In the Energy Engineering department of the German Jordanian University a solar energy lab has been success- fully designed and implemented. It is used in the “Renew- able Energy Resources Assessment” course. In this paper we will present the technical design of this lab and explain its alignment to relevant learning outcomes. We will struc- ture the outcomes based on the 13 objectives that have been defined by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) [3] and discuss the cognitive domain levels according to Bloom’s taxonomy of the cognitive domain [4]. We will present a sample task for students and 6 http://www.i-joe.org