The Telepresence Laboratory for a New Campus Life Since the Covid-19 Crisis

The Covid-19 crisis transformed students' campus lives into a new normal. With telemeeting applications, the regular face-to-face lectures are being converted into online lectures. However, the conventional online/offline simulation and remote laboratory cannot provide a real experience of laboratory apparatus and investigations, including cooperative learning. Therefore, the telepresence laboratory is established and utilized for the 2103-360 Mechanical Engineering evaluation and Laboratory II class, which was fabricated for third-year undergraduate mechanical engineering students. To satisfy seven outcomes, students must examine the accuracy, repeatability, and resolution of an IGUS Drylin linear motion system in this lab. The lab, with a telepresence laboratory, is conducted 10 times in a semester where there are two groups of 4-5 students participating in Lab A at a time. Based on the students' findings of the analysis, it can be concluded that the telepresence laboratory can provide all learning outcomes to students. Also, regarding the investigation, more than 86% of students agreed that the lab assisted them in defining issues, designing experiments, conducting experiments, analyzing, concluding, and reporting skills. More than 77% of students agreed that they learned about the equipment from the lab. Also, 89% of students are satisfied with the lab, and 91% of students would recommend other students to take the telepresence laboratory. In conclusion, the telepresence laboratory can be employed in place of the regular face-to-face lab. It succeeds in promoting collaborative learning, where students discuss and work together to complete a task. The investigations are designed with a real-time web interface. Students can utilize their mobile devices to access and control the equipment. This practice complies with the new normal.