Embedding formative assessment features into LabView interface

Abstract

Virtual instruments (VI), namely those designed using LabView, are increasingly used to enable access to remote instruments over the web. In an academic context, such VIs may be used to build a remote workbench that enables the students to carry out a laboratory task from their homes. The picture below illustrates a remote workbench that was developed to support laboratory assignments in digital / analogue electronics. This remote workbench comprises an oscilloscope, a waveform generator, and a multimeter, besides live images from the lab. Remote workbenches, or simulation environments, are not meant to replace real labs, but rather to complement them. They enable the students to continue their work in the lab, even after leaving the university campus. In most cases, a remote workbench constitutes a replica of what the student sees in a real workbench. However, VI interfaces might be designed to provide a much richer educational experience, namely by monitoring what the student does.