Active learning with technology: developing practical skills with a flexible teaching platform

Abstract

The laboratory classes allow students to deal with the equipment and technology, to study techniques and to analyse, model and test the laboratory procedure. The active construction of knowledge in a laboratory environment is strongly based on experimentation, requiring an extensive workload of laboratory practices. In this paper, a flexible laboratory platform for teaching and learning, developed for enhancing practical learning experiences within industrial automation process for engineering students, is presented as an innovative, transformative, technological and feasible alternative to classic laboratories, which are much more expensive. Through pedagogical techniques of active learning depending on the complexity knowledge level of the topics addressed, the laboratory practices provide a bridge of knowledge between the theoretical and the practical contents, developing critical sense, teamwork, autonomy, time management, problem-solving, among other soft skills, which strongly contributes to a solid training for engineering labour market current need.