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January 2005 Journal of Engineering Education 121
LYLE D. FEISEL
Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science
State University of New York at Binghamton
ALBERT J. ROSA
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Denver
ABSTRACT
The function of the engineering profession is to manipulate
materials, energy, and information, thereby creating benefit for
humankind. To do this successfully, engineers must have a
knowledge of nature that goes beyond mere theory—knowledge
that is traditionally gained in educational laboratories. Over the
years, however, the nature of these laboratories has changed. This
paper describes the history of some of these changes and explores
in some depth a few of the major factors influencing laboratories
today. In particular, the paper considers the lack of coherent
learning objectives for laboratories and how this lack has limited
the effectiveness of laboratories and hampered meaningful
research in the area. A list of fundamental objectives is presented
along with suggestions for possible future research.
Keywords: laboratories, learning objectives, history of laboratories
I. INTRODUCTION
Engineering is a practicing profession, a profession devoted to
harnessing and modifying the three fundamental resources that hu-
mankind has available for the creation of all technology: energy,
materials, and information. The overall goal of engineering educa-
tion is to prepare students to practice engineering and, in particular,
to deal with the forces and materials of nature. Thus, from the earli-
est days of engineering education, instructional laboratories have
been an essential part of undergraduate and, in some cases, graduate
programs. Indeed, prior to the emphasis on engineering science, it
could be said that most engineering instruction took place in the
laboratory.
The emphasis on laboratories has varied over the years. While
much attention has been paid to curriculum and teaching methods,
relatively little has been written about laboratory instruction. As an
example, in surveys of the articles published in the Journal of Engi-
neering Education from 1993 to 1997, it was found that only 6.5
percent of the papers used laboratory as a keyword. From 1998 to
2002, the fraction was even lower at 5.2 percent [1].
One reason for the limited research on instructional laboratories
may be a lack of consensus on the basic objectives of the laboratory
experience. While there seems to be general agreement that labora-
tories are necessary, little has been said about what they are expect-
ed to accomplish. In most papers about laboratories, no course ob-
jectives or outcomes are listed, even though it is not unusual for the
author to state in the conclusion that the objectives of the course
were met. An accepted set of fundamental objectives for laborato-
ries, as set out in this paper, would help engineering educators focus
their efforts and evaluate the effectiveness of laboratory experiences.
It is useful to distinguish among three basic types of engineering
laboratories: development, research, and educational. While they
have many characteristics in common, there are some fundamental
differences. These differences must be understood if there is to be
agreement on the educational objectives that the instructional labo-
ratory is expected to meet.
Practicing engineers go to the development laboratory for two
reasons. First, they often need experimental data to guide them in
designing and developing a product. The development laboratory is
used to answer specific questions about nature that must be an-
swered before a design and development process can continue.
The second reason is to determine if a design performs as in-
tended. Measurements of performance are compared to specifica-
tions, and these comparisons either demonstrate compliance or
indicate where, if not how, changes need to be made.
While a development laboratory is intended to answer specific
questions of immediate importance, research laboratories are used
to seek broader knowledge that can be generalized and system-
atized, often without any specific use in mind. The output of a re-
search laboratory is generally an addition to the overall knowledge
that we have of the world, be it natural or human made.
When students, especially undergraduates, go to the laboratory,
however, it is not generally to extract some data necessary for a de-
sign, to evaluate a new device, or to discover a new addition to our
knowledge of the world. Each of these functions involves deter-
mining something that no one else knows or at least that is not
generally available. Students, on the other hand, go to an instruc-
tional laboratory to learn something that practicing engineers are
assumed to already know. That “something” needs to be better de-
fined through carefully designed learning objectives if the consid-
erable effort devoted to laboratories is to produce a concomitant
benefit.
Laboratory instruction has been complicated by the introduc-
tion of two phenomena in the past two decades: the digital comput-
er and systems of distance learning, particularly over the Internet.
The digital computer has opened new possibilities in the laborato-
ry, including simulation, automated data acquisition, remote con-
trol of instruments, and rapid data analysis and presentation. The
reality of offering undergraduate engineering education via distance
learning has caused educators to consider and discuss just what the
fundamental objectives of instructional laboratories are. These dis-
cussions have led to new understandings of laboratories and have
The Role of the Laboratory in
Undergraduate Engineering Education
created new challenges for engineering educators as they design the
education system for the next generation of engineers.
Laboratory instruction has not received a great deal of attention
in the past few years. As will be noted later, however, and as has
been discussed in other writings [2], several factors currently con-
tribute to a reawakening of interest in the subject.
II. HISTORICAL ROLE OF ENGINEERING
INSTRUCTIONAL LABORATORIES
Engineering is a practical discipline. It is a hands-on profession
where doing is key. Consequently, prior to the creation of engineer-
ing schools, engineering was taught in an apprenticeship program
modeled in part after the British apprenticeship system. These early
engineers had to design, analyze, and build their own creations—
learning by doing. Engineering education, even today, occurs as
much in the laboratory as through lecture [3]. However, from the
onset of formal engineering education, a tension between theory
and practice evolved. During these early years the focus was clearly
on practice.
The first engineering school in the United States, the U.S. Mili-
tary Academy, founded at West Point, N.Y. in 1802 to produce and
train military engineers [4], was based in part on the French curric-
ular model of mathematical rigor. It was also coupled with practice,
striking a balance of sorts between theory and practice
Civilian schools soon followed and developed curricula that, as
the founder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute stated, existed “for
the purpose of instructing persons, who may choose to apply
themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes
of life [5].”
Applying science to everyday life requires both theory and
hands-on practicum. While the former lends itself to classroom
learning, the latter can only be learned and practiced in the physical
laboratory. During the middle of the nineteenth century, many en-
gineering schools sprung up, including Cornell (1830), Union Col-
lege (1845), Yale (1852), MIT (1865), and many others. Fueled by
the Industrial Revolution and the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862,
these institutions developed curricula that placed heavy emphasis
on laboratory instruction and taught a new generation of young en-
gineers how to design and build everything from turbines to rail-
roads and canals to telegraph lines and chemical plants.
To support the integral laboratory curricula, new physical struc-
tures were being built on the campuses of these institutions to house
the engineering laboratories. At MIT, a new laboratory specifically
for mechanical engineering was built in 1874. Worchester Poly-
technic Institute dedicated Stratton Hall in 1894 to house the ex-
panding mechanical engineering department and its engineering
laboratories. When the American Society of Civil Engineers was
founded in 1852, one of its early technical divisions was the Survey-
ing Division. Surveying became one the many undergraduate
course areas that provided a practical work environment. Laborato-
ries and fieldwork were clearly a major part of the engineering edu-
cation experience.
The accreditation process has had an impact on engineering lab-
oratories, although the effect has often been indirect. Engineering
accreditation in the United States started with the American Insti-
tute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) [6]. Concerned about main-
taining quality, the AIChE established a system for evaluating
chemical engineering departments and, in 1925, issued a list of the
first fourteen schools to gain accreditation. Seeing the impact of
these efforts, other engineering disciplines joined the effort and in
1932 formed the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development
(ECPD), the forerunner of today’s ABET (formerly the Accredita-
tion Board for Engineering and Technology) [7].
The original ECPD accreditation criteria, published in 1933,
included nine standards and filled about a half page. It was devel-
oped to offer accreditation to six disciplines: chemical, civil, electri-
cal, mechanical, metallurgical, and mining engineering. The criteria
evaluated each program using both qualitative and quantitative
measures. Although students, teaching staff, graduates, curricula,
institutional control and attitudes, and physical facilities were all
targets for measurement, the word “laboratories” curiously did not
appear. One assumes that the reason for this omission was that lab-
oratories were so central to an engineering degree that no one could
even consider teaching an engineering course without an accompa-
nying laboratory [8]. Engineering programs required science and
mathematics, but drafting and laboratory and fieldwork remained
integral parts of the curriculum through the end of the Second
World War.
After World War II many of the great inventions that occurred
as a result of the war were developed by individuals educated as sci-
entists rather than engineers. The ASEE chartered a committee to
“…recommend patterns that engineering education should take in
order to keep pace with the rapid developments in science and tech-
nology and to educate men who will be competent to serve the
needs of and provide the leadership for the engineering profession
over the next quarter century” [9]. This committee’s report, called
the Grinter Report after its chairman, proved to be a watershed for
engineering education. Among the ten recommended action items,
the first three required strengthening work in basic sciences, includ-
ing mathematics, chemistry, and physics. The committee deter-
mined that the engineers being produced were too practically ori-
ented and were not sufficiently trained to seek solutions by referring
to first principles. ECPD, whose standards had gone essentially un-
changed since 1933, quickly adopted these new requirements and
the practical aspects of engineering generally taught in the labora-
tory began to give way to the more academic, theoretical subjects.
Driven by President John F. Kennedy’s determination to place a
man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s, there was a rapid growth
during that decade in the number of students seeking an engineer-
ing degree. By the 1970s, with the Moon goal reached and the
Vietnam War raging, funding for technology and for engineering
education declined significantly. Major engineering projects like the
supersonic transport and more advanced space missions were can-
celled. Some schools reduced the number of engineering programs
or shut down their engineering schools completely. To save dollars
with reduced enrollments, some schools elected to minimize labo-
ratory courses, citing the Grinter Report’s conclusion that knowing
theory was paramount and that engineering practicum appeared to
be of secondary importance. Many engineering schools began grad-
uating engineers who were steeped in theory but poor in practice.
While engineering programs became more theoretical, industry
continued to require individuals who possessed more practical skills.
To provide these practically trained individuals, many institutions
developed programs in engineering technology. Since many of
these technologists filled positions formerly held by engineers, they
often received that title, causing confusion between engineering and
122 Journal of Engineering Education January 2005
engineering technology. This overlap of definition became prob-
lematic and ECPD, to help distinguish the professions, began ac-
crediting two- and four-year technology programs.
Around 1980, engineering societies underwent a major reorga-
nization, and ECPD became the Accreditation Board for Engi-
neering and Technology (ABET). ABET became the organization
responsible for engineering and technology accreditation and main-
tained separate accreditation tracks for programs in engineering and
those in technology. With clearly defined boundaries, it became
clear that engineers were not adequately prepared in laboratory
techniques. New criteria were created that required adequate labo-
ratory practice [10]. Laboratory plans that included instrumenta-
tion replacement and refurbishment were now required for every
program.
In addition to the Grinter report, the American Society for En-
gineering Education has produced other reports on engineering ed-
ucation and made recommendations for changes and improve-
ments. The reports of 1967 [11], 1986 [12], and 1987 [13]
reaffirmed the importance of laboratories. An Engineering Foun-
dation conference held in 1983 attested to the importance of labo-
ratories in engineering education and made recommendations that
they be strengthened [14]. Curiously, the ASEE “Green Book” is-
sued in 1994 [15] does not appear to mention laboratories even
though there is a section on “Reshaping the Curriculum.” One rea-
sonably can assume that this reflects a satisfaction with the current
situation rather than a suggestion that laboratories are of no
consequence.
In the early 1990s, dissatisfaction with ABET’s perceived “bean
counting” approach to accreditation—that many believed rendered
U.S. engineers globally uncompetitive—motivated ABET to un-
dertake a far-reaching study on how better to accredit engineering
programs. As a result, in the late 1990s ABET changed its accredi-
tation criteria, placing the burden on each institution to develop
goals and objectives for each of its programs and to develop out-
comes that could be periodically assessed [16]. While the new crite-
ria, introduced as EC2000, do not explicitly require laboratory in-
struction, various references to experiment, use of modern tools,
and institutional support make it clear that once again laboratories
are a significant part of engineering education.
During the past two or three decades, three developments have
compounded the challenge of providing a quality laboratory experi-
ence for undergraduate engineers: (1) the increasing complexity—
and hence increasing cost—of laboratory equipment and (2) the
changing motivation of faculty members has worked against a qual-
ity laboratory experience, while (3) the integration of the computer
has worked for it.
As technology has advanced, systems have developed for mea-
suring ever more complex parameters to ever increasing levels of
precision and accuracy. These systems come at an increased cost for
both acquisition and maintenance. They also require more broadly
educated technicians who are difficult to hire and who command
higher salaries. Engineering department budgets are not always ad-
equate to meet the needs of a modern instructional laboratory, espe-
cially those requiring significant amounts of hands-on involvement.
As so many engineering programs have developed an increasing
interest in research, the faculty reward system, in the opinion of
many, has shifted away from recognizing contributions to under-
graduate education and toward rewarding research productivity.
While this has helped to create an outstanding academic research
enterprise, it has drawn the attention of faculty away from such
time-intensive activities as developing and evolving instructional
laboratories. Though it is clear that a quality undergraduate pro-
gram that includes a quality laboratory experience requires the effort
and dedication of some of our best faculty, it is less obvious how the
reward system will be altered to recognize curricular achievements.
Universities continue to address this issue.
The rapid evolution of the personal computer and its integration
into the laboratory have helped to offset some of the costs of requir-
ing expensive equipment and have improved the laboratory experi-
ence through computer use in data acquisition, data reduction, de-
sign assistance, and simulations. The role of computers in the
engineering laboratory is covered in more detail in sections IV and
V below.
III. OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT (OR NOT)
If you don’t know where you want to go, you won’t know which road
to take and you won’t know if you have arrived. This truism, when ap-
plied to education, suggests that clear learning objectives are essen-
tial in designing an efficient learning system and also in applying an
effective system of assessment. It is surprising, however, how many
teachers do not write such objectives. Some, perhaps, don’t know
how. Others cannot be bothered. Still others maintain that deter-
mining learning objectives should be left to the students—a posi-
tion that has some merit in more advanced courses.
In the past two or three decades, several engineering education
scholars have spoken to the issue of learning objectives and a
number of workshops on the subject have been held. Beginning
with Bloom [17], various taxonomies of learning objectives have
been developed that help to explain the concept of learning objec-
tives as well as to understand the several levels of intellectual chal-
lenge presented. It is interesting, however, that the literature is
largely silent on the learning objectives associated with engineer-
ing instructional laboratories. Some professors who develop labo-
ratories and publish their results are fairly precise in stating their
objectives. Others simply assume the objectives will be taken for
granted and that their contribution is to report on the laboratory
apparatus, a process they have developed, or the success of their
students in learning a concept or accomplishing a desired task or
design.
There has been a move nationally to require educational objec-
tives for all types of accreditation, starting with the regional accredi-
tation commissions. For engineering, the implementation of
ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 has resulted in increased atten-
tion to objectives, including some associated with the laboratory.
Since the emphasis of these criteria is on objectives and assessment,
work directed toward helping programs meet the criteria often fo-
cuses on those elements [18–20].
For laboratory courses, engineering faculty are much more likely
to identify course goals than they are to specify student learning ob-
jectives. A common goal is to relate theory and practice or to bring
the “real world” into an otherwise theoretical education [21–25].
Another goal is to provide motivation either to continue in the
study of engineering or to follow a particular course of study
[26–28]. In recent years, it has become apparent that fewer students
come to the university with experience as “shade tree mechanics” or
amateur radio operators, so laboratories are often used to give
January 2005 Journal of Engineering Education 123
students the “look and feel” of physical systems [29] or to develop a
“feel for engineering [30].”
Course goals or objectives are often stated in general terms and
their achievement is not often assessed. Yet, since they are funda-
mental to the development of an engineer, learning objectives and
their outcomes are critical for evaluating the success and evolution
of a laboratory program.
There are a few examples of successful assessment of laboratory
course goals. For example, student retention is something that can be
measured and is sometimes used as a surrogate for motivation. The
other often-used measure of success is a student satisfaction survey.
As another example of assessment, the efficacy of laboratory simula-
tions used as a prelab activity can be assessed by evaluating the perfor-
mance of students when they do the physical laboratory exercise [31].
While course goals are often specified, the literature shows a
general dearth of well-written student learning objectives for labo-
ratories. Though this has not prevented the development of many
innovative and effective laboratory activities, it is felt that clear
learning objectives would contribute significantly to the develop-
ment process as well as to the ongoing discussion about the appro-
priate role of laboratories in engineering education.
IV. THE COMPUTER IN THE LABORATORY
Today, computers are ubiquitous. An integral part of every engi-
neer’s toolbox, they are used to do computations, data collection
and reduction, simulations and data acquisition, and to share infor-
mation via the Internet. No engineer today could imagine doing his
or her job without one. Yet, using computers routinely is a fairly re-
cent event, particularly in the laboratory.
The first electronic digital computer, the ENIAC, became oper-
ational in 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania. Computer tech-
nology grew rapidly during the fifties and sixties with computers in-
creasing in capability, shrinking in size, and growing in number.
Still, few engineers actually used these behemoths for day-to-day
design, much less to support laboratory work. In 1972 a practical
breakthrough in computation occurred. Hewlett-Packard an-
nounced the HP-35 as “a fast, extremely accurate electronic slide rule”
with a solid-state memory similar to that of a computer. The
HP-35 and the other models that soon followed had a major impact
on both theoretical courses and engineering instructional laborato-
ries. They replaced the traditional slide rule and gave students the
capability of analyzing data with far greater speed and accuracy.
The real breakthrough in computational power occurred in 1981
when IBM introduced its PC, igniting a fast growth of the personal
computer market. By the mid-1980s, engineering schools were de-
veloping laboratories that made more effective use of the computer
in collecting and analyzing experimental data. Bucknell, among
other universities, increased the role of the personal computer in the
laboratory by developing an integrated engineering workstation to
support several courses. These workstations usually had a suite of
electronic instruments and a PC to use in the design, analysis, and
testing of engineering systems [32].
In 1993, the IEEE Education Society produced a special issue
on Computation and Computers in Electrical Engineering Education,
which represented the state of the art at the time. Papers reported
successful experiments using PSPICE to model hysteresis effects,
computer simulation in circuit analysis, circuit simulation in power
electronics, SPICE to learn about chaotic circuits, the computer as a
tool for learning stochastic processes, and so forth. The computer,
clearly, was becoming integrated into undergraduate education
from the classroom to the laboratory [33].
By 1986 computers were being exploited in many ways. Digital
simulators were being introduced to “expand the undergraduate digi-
tal design education without increasing the student’s work load” [34].
Building on several earlier efforts in finite element modeling, PCs
were used to map electrostatic fields or for transmission line analysis,
making difficult visualizations possible and relatively easy through in-
teractive software [35, 36]. An example of how the PC made student
learning more efficient is described in a short article by R. J. Distler:
“Before we introduced the personal computers and
emulators, the student had to assemble his program on the
University’s main computer and print out the resulting file.
He then took this to the lab and punched the program into
the ET3400 [Microprocessor Trainer], hex key at a time. If
there was an error in the code, he went back to the computer
terminal to correct his source code. Now the creation, of the
source code, assembly, downloading, debugging, running the
program and the final report preparation is done at the same
station, often at a single session. Much of the frustration has
been removed from running the microprocessor experi-
ments. There has been a large increase in productivity and
there has been a corresponding increase in the quality of
student work” [37].
The 1980s and 1990s saw the development of many “smart” in-
struments that essentially married a measuring device with a special
purpose computer. Connected to a system under test, the instru-
ment collects data, analyzes it, and presents it graphically in the time
it used to take to measure and record one data point. This has given
students the ability to analyze much more complex systems and to
do so in far greater depth.
During this period, schools began investigating the possibility of
controlling experiments remotely. Early experiments saw efforts
being developed around the Internet using Web browsers and Java
Applets [38, 39].
One of the more comprehensive systems is LabVIEW, a product
of National Instruments. This combination of software and hard-
ware turns a personal computer into a data-acquisition device and a
set of simulated instruments. It also provides software for data analy-
sis and presentation in a variety of formats and has been used in in-
troductory as well as more advanced laboratory courses. More signif-
icantly LabVIEW or Hewlett-Packard’s HPVEE software using
the HPIB IEEE 488 standard protocol instrument drivers can be
used to control instruments remotely—meaning that students can
not only simulate virtual outcomes of experiments, but also control
real instruments while they are located elsewhere [40, 41].
Laboratory courses have also been developed to teach students to
develop their own data-acquisition systems. One such course at the
sophomore level uses interdisciplinary teams to design and imple-
ment computer-based systems for measuring temperature and
strain and evaluating a temperature controller [42].
Clearly, the computer has changed the instructional laboratory
greatly over the last few years. It can be used to control experiments;
acquire data; and analyze, correlate, and present results. While this
level of automation might remove students somewhat from the
124 Journal of Engineering Education January 2005
direct process of the laboratory experience, it can be argued that it
has also extended them into areas heretofore impossible to explore.
There will undoubtedly be many further developments in this area.
V. SIMULATION VERSUS REAL EXPERIMENTATION
The use of technology to simulate physical phenomena probably
found its first serious use in the “Blue Box” developed by Edwin
Link in the 1928, now an ASME National Landmark. The “Link
Trainer” flight simulator was used to train thousands of military avi-
ators before and during World War II, saving millions of dollars
and more than a few lives. Today, simulators are used to deliver
training for all kinds of activities, from piloting sophisticated aircraft
or ships to operating nuclear power plants or complex chemical pro-
cessing facilities. Today, simulation software programs are available
that accurately emulate many technical and physical processes.
These software programs play an important role in engineering
education.
Two significant software developments used to simulate engi-
neering processes have had a revolutionary effect on engineering ed-
ucation: finite element modeling (FEM) and simulation program
with IC emphasis (SPICE). FEM software was an outgrowth of a
structural analysis tool developed in the 1940s to help engineers de-
sign better aircraft. SPICE was an outgrowth of an effort by Ron
Rohrer and his student, Larry Nagel, at the University of
California, Berkley to develop a circuit simulation program for their
work on optimization.
In some sense, SPICE and FEM have become virtual laborato-
ries. Students can design a circuit or a mechanical structure and
then submit it to SPICE or FEM to determine their design’s char-
acteristics “experimentally” through the use of digital simulation.
These programs did, however, have limitations. Real devices and
materials are intricate and difficult to model accurately. Since simu-
lation is only as good as the model used, it is essential that it be accu-
rate. Some of the simulations are based on simplified models that
fail when analyzing complex circuits or structures [43]. Under-
standing the limitations of simulations compared to real processes is
a key factor in their use.
In education, simulation has been used to provide illustrations of
phenomena that are not easily visualized, such as electromagnetic
fields, laminar flow in pipes, heat transfer through materials, and
electron flow in semiconductors or beam loading [44]. Since simu-
lators essentially execute mathematical equations and since we are
able to develop reasonably accurate mathematical models of the
physical phenomena we study in engineering laboratories, it is nat-
ural that simulators have been used as an adjunct to or even as a sub-
stitute for actual laboratory experiments.
There are numerous uses of simulation in the laboratory.
●Simulations can be used as a pre-lab experience to give stu-
dents some idea of what they will encounter in an actual ex-
periment [45]. This can improve laboratory safety by famil-
iarizing students with the equipment before actually using it.
It also can result in significant financial savings by reducing
the time a student or team needs on real—and expensive—
laboratory equipment, thereby reducing the number of labo-
ratory stations required.
●Simulations can be used as stand-alone substitutes for physi-
cal laboratory exercises and then be assessed by comparing
the performance of students who used simulation and those
who used traditional laboratories [46]. It was found that the
former group scored higher on a written exam. The students
who did the simulations were also required to perform two
physical laboratory exercises after they had done the simula-
tions. Judged on the basis of time needed to complete those
exercises, the two groups performed about the same although
the times of the students who used the simulations exhibited
a significantly higher standard deviation.
●Simulations are useful for experimental studies of systems
that are too large, too expensive, or too dangerous for physi-
cal measurements by undergraduate students [47–49].
Early criticisms of simulations were that they were too rigid, the
models were too unrealistic, or simulated results really did not ade-
quately represent real-world systems and behavior. Efforts to make
laboratory exercises based on simulations more realistic include a
number of innovations and efforts, for example, by inserting budget
and time constraints into the problem specifications [50] or by in-
corporating statistical fluctuations into the model to enhance real-
ism. Indeed, building a simulation that is appropriately—and
sometimes surprisingly—random can alleviate some of the concerns
that simulations do not represent the real world.
It is generally agreed that computer simulations today cannot
completely replace physical, hands-on experiments. With continu-
ing increases in computing power and efficiency, however, that goal
will certainly be approached more closely in the future. The exam-
ple of flight simulation systems capable of giving pilots valuable ex-
perience with normal flight—as well as with problems they might
encounter—should encourage engineering educators to continue to
develop better laboratory simulations. Pilots who experience the
stress of a simulator training exercise can attest to the realism that
simulation can provide.
VI. HANDS-OFF LABORATORIES:
DISTANCE EDUCATION
In engineering, the first distance education programs were grad-
uate programs intended primarily, if not solely, for part-time stu-
dents who were employed full time. Since most graduate programs
do not include a laboratory component, the question of how to de-
liver laboratory experiences did not arise. As undergraduate distance
learning programs started to develop, this problem demanded solu-
tion. The usual approach was to have students either perform labo-
ratory exercises at another institution (e.g., a local community col-
lege) or spend a period of time on the engineering campus in a
concentrated laboratory course [51]. In either case, the laboratory
was conventional in all except the schedule of activity. Other pro-
grams gave remote students laboratory kits they could use at home
to perform the course experiments. Students purchased kits at a cost
considered comparable to what they would spend traveling to the
campus to attend regular laboratory classes [52].
Distance education programs adopted each new technology
(mail, telephone, radio, television, tape recording, computer) as it
came along. None of the technologies, however, solved the difficult
problem of how to provide laboratory experience at a distance. Then
came the Internet, whose ability to interconnect nodes of technology
in an almost instantaneous fashion changed the practice of distance
education as well as the expectations of both students and teachers.
January 2005 Journal of Engineering Education 125
In 1996, the provost of the State University of New York con-
vened a panel to study the development of distance education in the
state and to identify areas where policy changes or clarification
might be needed. The panel’s report [53] provides the following apt
description of the “new” world of distance education.
“During the Panel’s lifetime of less than two years, the dis-
tance learning enterprise has changed dramatically. In early
1996, most people thought of distance learning as real-time,
synchronous communication that duplicated, as nearly as pos-
sible, a face-to-face classroom experience. Two years later,
most realize that synchronous delivery is part of a much larger
picture and that the technology and materials developed for re-
mote delivery have a far greater potential to provide education
for students ‘at any time, in any place.’ ”
With this new understanding of “distance,” the motivation for
developing distance laboratories expanded significantly. In addition
to the desire to provide laboratories for students who never come to
the campus, there is now a wish to enhance the laboratory experi-
ence of on-campus students. There is also the potential to gain effi-
ciencies by better utilizing space and making a single piece of labo-
ratory equipment available to more students.
The approach most often employed is to use the Internet to pro-
vide students with remote access to physical laboratory apparatus.
Most systems of this type are synchronous, giving students a sense of
actual involvement in the experiment. Some use online video to fur-
ther enhance students’ sense of presence [54, 55]. Many systems that
employ video operate in quasi real time, but others provide a capabil-
ity for students to upload experiment parameters and then receive a
video clip of the apparatus as it operates using those parameters [56].
The operating software for distance laboratories can be a chal-
lenge. Writing such software is a major undertaking so the use of
commercial software can be efficient. Some faculty members have
used MS NetMeeting [57] or MATLAB/Simulink [58] to provide
access to laboratories, while others have developed their own sys-
tems [59, 60].
One concern often expressed about distance learning is the per-
ceived isolation of the students. Hoyer et al. have used teams in Inter-
net laboratories to provide a collaborative experience for their students
[60]. Their system uses a standard browser, thereby eliminating the
need for additional software on the student’s computer and reducing
the time required by the student to learn how to operate the system.
This perceived isolation could also cause students to disengage
from the learning process, although that is less likely to occur in re-
mote laboratory instruction than in regular class work delivered over
the Internet. Having students do their laboratory work in teams, as
noted above, or doing periodic self-evaluations have been effective
in reducing this isolation [61].
While some educators believe that the best use of the Internet is
to give students access to physical equipment in a physical laborato-
ry, others feel that simulation by itself can provide a meaningful lab-
oratory experience. This can range from having the students solve a
problem (i.e., make a prediction) and then use a simulator to see if
their solution checks “experimentally” to using a total simulation to
teach students the use of electronic or mechanical instruments [62].
Since student access to an experimental apparatus is through a
computer terminal, the primary question is whether a simulation
can be made so realistic that the student does not know whether the
other end is a software package or a set of D/A and A/D converters
controlling the instruments measuring a real system. A second
question is perhaps the most thought provoking: Do we need to
care what the student perceives, as long as he or she meets the learn-
ing objectives associated with the laboratory? Whatever solution is
used, it is apparent that the delivery of laboratory education today
remains a significant challenge to distance-delivered undergraduate
engineering education.
VII. THE FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIVES OF
LABORATORIES
As history has shown, there has not been general agreement on
the objectives of engineering instructional laboratories nor any real
efforts to define a comprehensive set until now. Indeed, many edu-
cators have not explicitly defined objectives at all and many of those
who have, do so in terms that make it difficult to assess whether
those objectives have been achieved. Either the profession’s require-
ments for specificity were not very strict or there was a faith that a
system that had always worked would continue to work as long as it
was given a certain amount of nourishment.
There are at least two problems with this state of affairs. First,
designing a laboratory experience without clear instructional objec-
tives is like designing a product without a clear set of design speci-
fications. Something useful might result but, at worst, it may not
be what was really desired and, at best, the process will be exceed-
ingly inefficient. Second, innovation will be difficult because there
are no targets to inspire change and no standards by which the
changes may be judged. This last problem has become clear with
the advent of programs offering undergraduate engineering de-
grees, including laboratories, using the Internet or other distance-
learning technologies.
As mentioned earlier, the lack of a clear understanding of the
objectives of instructional laboratories became clear—and vexing—
to ABET when distance education programs began inquiring about
accreditation. Officials of ABET recognized that, while well-un-
derstood—if not completely explicit—criteria exist for evaluating
the cognitive component of engineering education, no such under-
standing existed for laboratories. This apparent limitation in defin-
ing a clear purpose for the role of laboratories in a program handi-
caps the ability of an institution to determine if its curricular
objectives for a degree are being fully met.
To help resolve this problem, ABET approached the Sloan
Foundation, a charitable foundation that has given considerable
support to the development of distance-learning systems, particu-
larly in higher education. The Foundation agreed to fund a colloquy
to assemble a group of experienced engineering educators to deter-
mine objectives for evaluating the efficacy of distance-delivered en-
gineering laboratory programs. As the steering committee designed
the colloquy program, they concluded that the question was not
“What are the objectives of distance-delivered laboratories?” It was
“What are the fundamental objectives of engineering instructional
laboratories?” independent of the method of delivery.
The colloquy convened in San Diego, California on January
6–8, 2002. Some fifty distinguished engineering educators, repre-
senting a range of institutions and disciplines, attended.
The colloquy converged on a list of thirteen objectives, each con-
sisting of a one-or two-word title to provide easy reference and a
126 Journal of Engineering Education January 2005
brief explanatory statement to help clarify the meaning. The objec-
tives were written using the generally accepted style of using a verb
to specify the action that the student should be able to perform as a
result of the laboratory experience [63, 64]. The following objec-
tives resulted from the colloquy:
The Fundamental Objectives of
Engineering Instructional Laboratories
All objectives start with the following: “By completing the labo-
ratories in the engineering undergraduate curriculum, you will be
able to….”
Objective 1: Instrumentation. Apply appropriate sensors, in-
strumentation, and/or software tools to make measurements of
physical quantities.
Objective 2: Models. Identify the strengths and limitations of
theoretical models as predictors of real-world behaviors. This may
include evaluating whether a theory adequately describes a physical
event and establishing or validating a relationship between mea-
sured data and underlying physical principles.
Objective 3: Experiment. Devise an experimental approach,
specify appropriate equipment and procedures, implement these
procedures, and interpret the resulting data to characterize an engi-
neering material, component, or system.
Objective 4: Data Analysis. Demonstrate the ability to collect,
analyze, and interpret data, and to form and support conclusions.
Make order of magnitude judgments and use measurement unit
systems and conversions.
Objective 5: Design. Design, build, or assemble a part, prod-
uct, or system, including using specific methodologies, equipment,
or materials; meeting client requirements; developing system
specifications from requirements; and testing and debugging a
prototype, system, or process using appropriate tools to satisfy
requirements.
Objective 6: Learn from Failure. Identify unsuccessful outcomes
due to faulty equipment, parts, code, construction, process, or de-
sign, and then re-engineer effective solutions.
Objective 7: Creativity. Demonstrate appropriate levels of in-
dependent thought, creativity, and capability in real-world problem
solving.
Objective 8: Psychomotor. Demonstrate competence in selec-
tion, modification, and operation of appropriate engineering tools
and resources.
Objective 9: Safety. Identify health, safety, and environmental
issues related to technological processes and activities, and deal with
them responsibly.
Objective 10: Communication. Communicate effectively about
laboratory work with a specific audience, both orally and in writing,
at levels ranging from executive summaries to comprehensive tech-
nical reports.
Objective 11: Teamwork. Work effectively in teams, including
structure individual and joint accountability; assign roles, responsi-
bilities, and tasks; monitor progress; meet deadlines; and integrate
individual contributions into a final deliverable.
Objective 12: Ethics in the Laboratory. Behave with highest eth-
ical standards, including reporting information objectively and in-
teracting with integrity.
Objective 13: Sensory Awareness. Use the human senses to gath-
er information and to make sound engineering judgments in for-
mulating conclusions about real-world problems.
It is interesting to note that the objectives cut across all domains
of knowledge. It was no surprise that many deal with knowledge in
the cognitive domain. This has long been the province of engineer-
ing educators and is an area in which everyone seems to be
comfortable. So, the first five objectives dealing with cognition—In-
strumentation, Models, Experiment, Data Analysis, and Design—
were expected. Then, two were specified that involve the psychomo-
tor domain: Psychomotor (the ability to actually manipulate
apparatus) and Sensory Awareness. Finally, the remaining objec-
tives have a cognitive part but also include a significant component
of the affective domain, i.e., behavior and attitudes: learn from fail-
ure, creativity, safety, communication, teamwork, and ethics in the
laboratory. Exposing students to all three of these domains is neces-
sary to produce an effective engineer.
It is also interesting to compare these recently described funda-
mental objectives to the “roles” defined by Edward Ernst in a semi-
nal paper more than twenty years ago [65].
“In my examination of the undergraduate engineering
laboratory, I have identified three roles or objectives as major
ones. First, the student should learn how to be an experi-
menter. Second, the laboratory can be a place for the student
to learn new and developing subject matter. Third, laboratory
courses help the student to gain insight and understanding of
the real world.”
The current objectives serve as an expansion of this list. These
roles (or goals) can provide a philosophical basis for laboratories.
The more specific objectives are needed to provide clear guidance in
developing instructional laboratories. Using these objectives as a
framework, laboratory developers and educational researchers can
identify the specific objectives that their work is expected to achieve
and have confidence that those objectives have been accepted by a
significant portion of the engineering education community.
In the two or more years following the colloquy, the organizers
conducted a limited survey of engineering educators to determine if
there was general agreement that the objectives were applicable and
exhaustive. They presented their findings in several high-visibility
venues and discovered that, while there was general agreement that
the objectives were exhaustive, there was considerable spread in
opinion concerning whether they were all essential. Further investi-
gation, including better segregation by discipline, is still needed.
While ABET was a prime mover in initiating and developing
the colloquy, ABET officials were quick to point out that the objec-
tives have no standing as accreditation criteria. Rather, it is hoped
that these objectives will be useful to pedagogues to aid in evaluat-
ing their laboratory activity and to validate their effectiveness, espe-
cially as distance-learning programs emerge. The objectives should
also be useful in the design of experimental laboratory programs and
in demonstrating their worthiness of extramural funding.
VIII. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Engineering instructional laboratories provide a fertile field for
educational research in the future. While it is always interesting and
rewarding to develop new laboratory experiments and experiences,
future research should be aimed at developing a more thorough
understanding of this critical component of the undergraduate
January 2005 Journal of Engineering Education 127
experience. The following are some areas that the authors and oth-
ers believe can be particularly fruitful.
1) A further understanding of the fundamental objectives of instruc-
tional laboratories: While the ABET/Sloan colloquy produced a
useful list of objectives, these need to be “calibrated” by comparison
to objectives currently in use and by developing an understanding of
the objectives on a disciplinary basis. Activities might include a dis-
cipline-specific survey of faculty or an analysis of proposals received
by funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation.
2) Methods of assessing laboratory effectiveness: Starting with the
fundamental objectives—or some modification thereof—it would
be interesting and useful to develop and evaluate a means of assess-
ing how well these objectives are achieved. Experts in the field of
assessment could team with faculty members who are dedicated to
laboratory development to design and test assessment methods
keyed to the objectives.
3) The effectiveness of remote laboratories: As the number of un-
dergraduate engineering distance education programs increases, it is
essential that there be experimental verification that the associated
laboratory experience is effective in meeting the overall objectives of
the program. Ideally, this would be done by comparison with tradi-
tional offerings through evaluation of students who have completed
both kinds of programs. Of course, making this kind of comparative
assessment requires agreement on the objectives to be pursued and
development of effective assessment methods, as noted above.
4) Effectiveness of simulation vs. remote access of real equipment:
There is disagreement over whether or not a simulated laboratory
can be as effective in meeting objectives as remote access to an ex-
periment consisting of physical equipment. This can be explored
experimentally by having students evaluate the two kinds of experi-
ences. It would be valuable to see if a student working over the
Internet can tell the difference between a physical and a simulated
experiment. Students could be asked to complete the online experi-
ment and then indicate whether they thought they were dealing
with real equipment or a simulation. It will be necessary to have user
interfaces that appear to be operating real equipment but are really
providing access to simulations.
5) Laboratory simulations that include “noise”: If online simula-
tions are to represent the physical world, they must simulate not
only the ideal model but the natural variability of parameters as well.
Some work has been done on this, but further development would
be useful. By considering the physics of the system being simulated,
the developer can insert both random and systematic errors, as well
as problems with instrument calibration. This added degree of “re-
ality” could contribute significantly to the success of simulation in
the context suggested in the previous paragraph.
6) Novel approaches to meeting laboratory objectives: At this time,
many traditional experiments are not practical to perform via distance
learning. Another way of approaching the problem would be not to try
to find a way to perform this or that particular experiment, but rather
to go back to the root of the objective and to find new experiments that
meet the same objectives but that can be performed remotely.
IX. CONCLUSION
From the beginning of engineering education, laboratories have
had a central role in the education of engineers. While there has
been an ebb and flow in the perceived importance of laboratory
study versus more theoretical classroom work, it has never been
suggested that laboratories can be foregone completely. At times,
however, they have been taken for granted to a considerable extent.
The advent of the Internet, the development of powerful simula-
tion programs enabled by enormous, cheap computing power, and
the growing number of online undergraduate engineering programs
have combined to refocus attention on laboratories. The fundamen-
tal objectives developed in an ABET/Sloan Foundation colloquy
have helped to prompt discussion about why laboratories are impor-
tant and what are the characteristics of a good laboratory exercise.
These fundamental objectives can and should provide a frame-
work for improving current laboratory practice. Faculties who are
interested in sharpening the purpose of their laboratory programs—
or increasing their efficiency—can use the objectives to direct and
facilitate their curricular discussions and also to judge the effective-
ness of practices they observe in other institutions.
The objectives can also suggest and direct research in engineering
instructional laboratories by inserting a discipline that has thus far
largely been absent. Instead of simply creating a clever laboratory ex-
ercise and then reporting on levels of student interest and satisfac-
tion, researchers should be expected to identify their specific objec-
tives and then demonstrate that those objectives have been achieved.
If this standard is met, the quality and usefulness of research on labo-
ratories will increase markedly. As a result, the community will have
a greater respect for educational research and more faculty members
may be able to use those activities in cases for promotion and tenure.
Finally, as discussion of laboratories grows, different viewpoints
are certain to emerge. The fundamental objectives can serve as a
framework to sharpen and focus this discussion, whether the dis-
agreement is about the validity of the objectives or the ways in
which the objectives are met.
Certainly the central purpose of engineering is still to modify na-
ture ethically and economically for the benefit of humankind, but
engineers do this increasingly from a computer terminal and not
from the workshop floor or a field truck. Nonetheless, most engi-
neering educators agree that students must have some contact—or
at least be made to believe they have had contact—with nature.
Continuing discussions and further research are needed to deter-
mine the most efficient, effective way to bring this about.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the fol-
lowing individuals who generously provided comments and sugges-
tions for improvements to the manuscript and suggested areas for
future research:
Richard Culver, SUNY Binghamton;
Ron DeLyser, University of Denver;
C. Robert Emerson, SUNY Binghamton;
Edward Ernst, University of South Carolina;
Cary Fisher, U.S. Air Force Academy;
Peter Hoadley, Vanderbilt University; and
John Prados, University of Tennessee.
The authors also express their appreciation to the reviewers and
the editors whose comments were very helpful in guiding the prepa-
ration of the final version of the article.
128 Journal of Engineering Education January 2005
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AUTHORS’B
IOGRAPHIES
Lyle D. Feisel, P.E., is dean emeritus (retired) of the Watson
School of Engineering and Applied Science and professor emeritus
of electrical engineering at the State University of New York at
Binghamton.
Following service in the U.S. Navy, he received the B.S., M.S.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State Uni-
versity. From 1964 to 1983, he was a member of the faculty of the
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, serving as head of
EE from 1975 to 1983. In 1969–70, he was a National Visiting
Professor at Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan. He served
as the founding dean of engineering at SUNY Binghamton from
1983 to 2001. He has consulted for private and public organiza-
tions, and has been active in accreditation and continuing education
activities. Dr. Feisel was president of ASEE in 1997–98 and is a life
fellow of the IEEE and a fellow of ASEE and NSPE.
Address: P.O. Box 839, St. Michaels, MD 21663; telephone:
(410) 745–4266; e-mail: L.Feisel@ieee.org.
Albert J. Rosa is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the U.S.A.F.
Academy and professor of engineering at the University of Denver.
He received the B.E.E. from Manhattan College, the M.S.E.E.
from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the Ph.D. from the
University of Illinois, Urbana. He served in the U.S. Air Force for
twenty-four years, including tours in Japan as Wing Engineer and
in England as Chief Scientist for the A.F. in Europe. From 1975 to
1983 he served at the Air Force Academy, culminating as professor
and head of electrical engineering. He was the architect of our Na-
tional Warning System and attained the rank of Colonel when he
retired in 1986. He served as the founding head of engineering at
the University of Denver and as its chairman from 1986 through
2001. He has consulted for private and public organizations and has
been active in accreditation and outreach activities, receiving a Pres-
idential Award for mentoring in 2001. Dr. Rosa is a senior member
of IEEE and a member of ASME, ASEE, and APS.
Address: 330 Buckeye Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80919; tele-
phone: (719) 598–1967; e-mail: arosa@du.edu.
130 Journal of Engineering Education January 2005
