Improving ECE Education in Sub-Saharan African Countries Using the Mobile Studio Technology and Pedagogy

Abstract

Engineering Education (ASEE) Mid-Atlantic Region Distinguished Teacher Award. He teaches courses in both analog and digital electronic circuit design and instrumentation, with a focus on wireless communication. He has more than 15 years experience in the development and delivery of synchronous and asynchronous web-based course supplements for electrical engineering courses. He has published over 35 papers and presented his research work at regional, national and international conferences. He also runs several exciting summer camps geared towards middle school, high school, and community college students to expose and increase their interest in pursuing Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Dr. Astatke travels to Ethiopia every summer to provide training and guest lectures related to the use of the mobile laboratory technology and pedagogy to enhance the ECE curriculum at five different universities.

Alternative Approaches to Undergraduate Engineering Laboratory Experience for Low-income Nations

“…The results have been very promising as the students at AAiT and iOTech-HU indicated that the use of Mobile Studio provided an opportunity to tackle more challenging topics and expand the scope of their capstone design projects [11]. In addition, the electrical engineering departments are able to accommodate fewer students (4-5) per station by adding ten new Mobile Studio Boards to their laboratory workstation benches [11]. Other versions of the Mobile Studio Board have been developed, and are currently being used in universities across the world such as India, Greece, Austria, Germany, Mexico, and Malaysia.…”

“…The Mobile Studio Board provides similar functions to standard laboratory equipment such as oscilloscope, function generators, power supplies and voltmeters. When coupled with the Mobile Studio Desktop TM software, it provides an opportunity to perform hands-on exploration of electrical engineering principles, which would otherwise cost $5,000 using conventional laboratories [11] This platform has been successfully used at two universities in Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) and Hawassa University Institute of Technology (iOTech-HU) in collaboration with Morgan State University in the United States. The results have been very promising as the students at AAiT and iOTech-HU indicated that the use of Mobile Studio provided an opportunity to tackle more challenging topics and expand the scope of their capstone design projects [11].…”

“…When coupled with the Mobile Studio Desktop TM software, it provides an opportunity to perform hands-on exploration of electrical engineering principles, which would otherwise cost $5,000 using conventional laboratories [11] This platform has been successfully used at two universities in Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) and Hawassa University Institute of Technology (iOTech-HU) in collaboration with Morgan State University in the United States. The results have been very promising as the students at AAiT and iOTech-HU indicated that the use of Mobile Studio provided an opportunity to tackle more challenging topics and expand the scope of their capstone design projects [11]. In addition, the electrical engineering departments are able to accommodate fewer students (4-5) per station by adding ten new Mobile Studio Boards to their laboratory workstation benches [11].…”

“…Laboratory costs are even more out of reach for universities in low-income nations, including many universities in Africa. For example a typical laboratory workstation for electrical and computer engineering costs approximately $5,000 USD [11]. A typical university laboratory requires multiple stations, raising the total equipment cost per laboratory to $100,000 USD for 20 laboratory working stations, which is often not affordable for some universities in low-income nations [11].…”

“…For example a typical laboratory workstation for electrical and computer engineering costs approximately $5,000 USD [11]. A typical university laboratory requires multiple stations, raising the total equipment cost per laboratory to $100,000 USD for 20 laboratory working stations, which is often not affordable for some universities in low-income nations [11]. Therefore, many undergraduate laboratories do not have proper equipment, or they are underequipped [12], [13], which forces students to perform experiments in larger groups [14].…”