University of North Dakota

1
University of North Dakota School of Engineering
and Mines

On-line Laboratories for a Distance
Engineering Program
John Watson, SEM, UND George Bibel, ME, UND
Kenneth Ebeling, IME, NDSU John
Erjavec, ChE, UND Hossein Salehfar, EE,
UND Marcellin Zahui, ME, UND
Distance Engineering Degree Program
A FIPSE Project
IECC 2005
2
Distance Engineering Degree Program (DEDP)
1989 Initiated as 3M Program Videotaped classes,
mailed to students Assignments by e-mail and
FAX Advising by phone and e-mail Exams
proctored at student site Enrollment - 8 1993
Corporate Engineering Degree Program 2001
Distance Engineering Degree Program 2002 FIPSE
On-line Laboratory Project 2003 Electronic
Delivery of Classes 2004 Enrollment - 108, 25
graduates to date
3
DEDP DETAIL
ABET accredited programs in ChE, CE, EE and
ME Programs are equivalent to on-campus
programs Students are required to take labs on
campus in summer 1 CH semester lab is equivalent
to 5 days of condensed labs
To meet the laboratory requirements of the
programs, students must spend 5-10 days each
summer on campus bear the expense of travel and
accommodation, and use vacation time
4
On-Line Laboratory Project 2002-05
FIPSE project initiated to design and implement 3
lab courses Each with 50 on-line content to
reduce time required at UND. On-line content to
be mix of virtual and real-time assignments
5
Three Laboratory Courses Selected ChE 431
Chemical Engineering Laboratory IV EE 306
Circuits Laboratory I ME 486 Mechanical
Engineering Practice
Each lab course has 50 on-line content
consisting of 50 virtual assignments
Packaged or Custom 50 real-time assignments
Lab Equipment
LabView and

Remote Panels
6
VIRTUAL ASSIGNMENTS

• Packaged Software or Custom Built Programs for
  each Laboratory Course
• Packaged ChemCAD for ChE process design
• Custom Built LabView for EE circuits
• using wiring
  diagrams and
• front panels

7
Virtual Inverting Op-Amp EE Assignment
8
LabView VI Wiring Diagram for Op-Amp
9
Laboratory Real-Time Assignment
Equipment Schematic
10
Real Time Laboratory Assignments
Lab equipment operating through LabView Front
Panel Internet publishing through Remote
Panels Incorporating real-time video image One
user in control with unlimited observers
11
Process Control Lab VI Front Panel
12
Video Image of Process Control Equipment
13
Front Panel and Video Image for First
Order Response
14
Tank Level Image Close-up
15
Unsteady State Thermal Conductivity Lab
16
Thermal Conductivity VI Front Panel
17
Video Image of Thermal Conductivity Equipment
18
Security and Access
All laboratory instructions are on UND
Blackboard All required downloads are available
from Blackboard site or on CD All laboratory
computers are on a Virtual Private Network
(VPN) User computer must link to VPN, and supply
authentication data Access to the virtual and
real-time assignments is from Blackboard
19
ASSESSMENT
Several of the labs were used remotely
by on-campus groups in spring semester,
2005. DEDP students will use some of the labs in
the summer, and in the fall HB Associates are
assisting with the assessment process which
involves survey and focus groups.
20
Acknowledgements
This project is sponsored in part by the Fund for
the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
(FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. The
authors would also like to acknowledge the
technical associates, graduate students, and
undergraduate students who contributed to the
project.
21
Thanks for listening Questions ?