Team learning in an online lab

This contribution deals with the implementation and subsequent evaluation of a distance-learning experiment as part of a laboratory for process control for students of electrical engineers in the main section of their studies. In one of our control laboratory experiments students have to design, implement and test a discrete controller for a process engineering plant. We have started to investigate students motivation, acceptance and learning results in conjunction with online laboratory access. To compare local and online lab access a summary evaluation has been performed with twenty students grouped into eight small teams. Four teams were not allowed to enter the room with the process engineering plant inside, so they had to operate and control the whole experiment through the Internet. The other four teams have worked on the laboratory experiment in the traditional way while sitting in the same room as the process to be controlled.