SITUATED LEARNING PERSPECTIVE FOR ONLINE APPROACHES TO LABORATORY AND PROJECT WORK

Abstract

The engineering laboratory in a university is where most students feel they are entering a place where engineering is done and practiced. With the COVID-19 pandemic many Canadian universities closed theircampuses and teaching moved online. This closed off access to laboratories and their rich range of resourcesand experiences to students. We use a situated learning framework to consider the online lab. To furtherreinforce the examination of the online approach we used the Kolb experiential learning cycle to complement the situated framework. Using examples from our own courses we look at the three areas of situated learning,activities and interactions, mediation, and participation and identity. The examination shows the insight fromusing this framework and learning cycle can be valuable, including insight into the stages of learning and howthose stages can be developed.