FROM LAB-BASED TO HOME-BASED: APPLICATION OF BLENDED LEARNING

Year 2 students from the Diploma in Electronic Systems course in the School of Engineering, Nanyang Polytechnic had to complete a project as part of the Electronic Communication module through blended learning. The project development involved circuit connections, coding and testing to demonstrate the wireless communication between two Arduino boards to solve real-life problems. With all classes converted to home-based learning during the pandemic, this poses a challenge for lecturers to quickly convert hands-on engineering project with hardware and software development online while ensuring that learning outcomes were not compromised. This paper will explain how the learning outcomes were achieved via Tinkercad during the home-based learning period. The paper will also cover the various means allowing learners to integrate both hardware and software to implement a solution for the identified problem statement. Some of the challenges faced along the implementation will also be shared, together with measures put in place to mitigate the challenges moving forward.