<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Students education in various fields (such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is constantly looking for ways and techniques on how to motivate students to learn, how to increase their engagement and how to increase the e ciency of knowledge acquisition. Information and communication technologies are developing at a very rapid speed and o er many new opportunities that could be used for such purposes. This paper focuses on virtual laboratory technologies that could be very helpful for these learning problems especially for subjects that lose the interest of young people. We have conducted two pilots at a Slovak secondary school and university to analyse the usability of self-directed learning applied to teach networking topics such as software-defined networking and network functions virtualisation. This learning approach was enhanced by a developed virtual lab and a set of self-tests. Knowledge tests and questionnaires have been used to investigate the impact of this self-directed virtual lab-based learning approach on students motivation to learn, feelings, satisfaction with learning approach and knowledge gain. The results showed that students appreciated the virtual laboratory for improving learning and their motivation to learn and their knowledge acquisition was noticeably improved when the virtual lab was included.</p></abstract>

Students education in various fields (such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is constantly looking for ways and techniques on how to motivate students to learn, how to increase their engagement and how to increase the e ciency of knowledge acquisition. Information and communication technologies are developing at a very rapid speed and o er many new opportunities that could be used for such purposes. This paper focuses on virtual laboratory technologies that could be very helpful for these learning problems especially for subjects that lose the interest of young people. We have conducted two pilots at a Slovak secondary school and university to analyse the usability of self-directed learning applied to teach networking topics such as software-defined networking and network functions virtualisation. This learning approach was enhanced by a developed virtual lab and a set of self-tests. Knowledge tests and questionnaires have been used to investigate the impact of this self-directed virtual lab-based learning approach on students motivation to learn, feelings, satisfaction with learning approach and knowledge gain. The results showed that students appreciated the virtual laboratory for improving learning and their motivation to learn and their knowledge acquisition was noticeably improved when the virtual lab was included.

STEM education supported by virtual laboratory incorporated in self-directed learning process

Journal of Electrical Engineering

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Students education in various fields (such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is constantly looking for ways and techniques on how to...

STEM education supported by virtual laboratory incorporated in self-directed learning process

Published Online: Oct 21, 2019

Page range: 332 - 344

Received: May 21, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jee-2019-0065

Keywords
self-directed learning, virtual lab, SDN, NFV, knowledge gain, questionnaire

© 2019 Peter Trúchly et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

STEM education supported by virtual laboratory incorporated in self-directed learning process

Published Online: Oct 21, 2019

Page range: 332 - 344

Received: May 21, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jee-2019-0065

Keywordsself-directed learning, virtual lab, SDN, NFV, knowledge gain, questionnaire

© 2019 Peter Trúchly et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
self-directed learning, virtual lab, SDN, NFV, knowledge gain, questionnaire