FTC 2016 - Future Technologies Conference 2016
6-7 December 2016 | San Francisco, United States
349 | Page
978-1-5090-4171-8/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
A Pragmatic Approach for Quality Enhancement in
Classroom Teaching of Engineering Education in
Developing Countries: A Case Study on Power
Electronics
Emranul Haque
Department of EEE
Independent University, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
emran1612@gmail.com
Tahsin Ferdous Ara Nayna
Department of EEE
Independent University, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
nayna_08@outlook.com
Feroz Ahmed
Department of EEE
Independent University, Bangladesh
Dhaka, Bangladesh
fahmed@iub.edu.bd
Abstract—The massive advancement of the technology in
modern society, leads the way to enhancement of learning
environment in all aspects of education including engineering. It
has now become high time to take effective steps to enhance the
learning experience by making changes in traditional classroom
teaching. Incorporation of experimentation in classroom teaching
is one of the potential methods to do that. This paper proposes a
system for enhancement of the classroom teaching of engineering
courses by the incorporation of practical experimentation
demonstration with the theoretical concepts using a remotely
accessed laboratory. This will allow the faculty members to
combine the practical results with the theoretical concepts and
provide the students with better learning environment. Along
with other elements, the details regarding the development of the
respective remote laboratory that can be used to teach power
electronics courses are presented here.
Keywords—teaching quality enhancement; experimentation;
remote laboratory; power electronics
I. INTRODUCTION
The advancement of today’s society in all aspects of
knowledge demands for incorporation of cutting-edge research
findings and their real life applications into today’s classrooms.
Besides, due to the mainly instructor - centred traditional
education approaches, lack of practical knowledge of
engineering students has become a major concern of the
engineering faculty members these days. With the growth of
modern technologies - it is the engineers who are the leading
people to take the world to a new era of technological
advancement. Therefore, the engineering education has to be
enhanced to its full bloom.
Experiential learning which plays a central role within
science and technology curriculum at all levels of education
can be extremely beneficial if included in the concept
underlined in theoretical lectures. Student's difficulties while
understanding the abstract subject matters which is being
presented in theoretical lectures can be resolved by experiential
learning as laboratory works in fact connects abstract notions
with the real world. In the traditional engineering teaching,
where the instructor introduces each topic by lecturing the
general principle followed by derivation of mathematical
models and illustrative applications of the models, the students
get the experiential learning only during the laboratory classes.
However, the instrument quantity and time constraints still
hinders the smooth learning of the students on the course
matters. These issues can be attained by the incorporation of
experimentation along with the theoretical courses, which is
only possible by the use of remote laboratories which can
provide the experience of a real lab like environment while
eliminating the possibilities of lack of practical knowledge of
the students. The incorporation of the remote laboratory in the
classroom environment will not only enhance the teaching
quality but also provide the students with a better
understanding of the theoretical topics. The accompaniment of
the laboratory classes will add up to the level of understanding
of the students thus giving the students fullest knowledge on
the practical aspects of the engineering concepts.
From the perspective of developing countries like
Bangladesh which are technologically not so advanced, the
enhancement of the education quality in undergraduate and
graduate level is necessary to take the country's technical
advancement up to the mark. This also includes the importance
of quality enhancement of the engineering education. While
hands-on laboratory tests and experimentation are essential
components for enhancement of the engineering education,
high investment, associated with the required equipment,
space, as well as maintenance and safety costs related to those
laboratories, poses important limitations in providing the
students with the best facilities needed for engineering
education. Due to economic incapability and lack of resources,
in most of the developing countries it becomes difficult to
provide the latest and relevant hands on experience to all the
engineering students. Therefore, for developing countries,
when planning to enhance the engineering education the aim
has to be to quality enhancement while decreasing educational
costs.
Moreover, while talking about the enhancement of
education quality in electrical engineering, one of the
preeminent subjects is power electronics. As more than 75% of
generated powers from power plants are processed by power