Virtual Electromagnetism Laboratory as a didactic strategy using situated learning approach in engineering

Virtual laboratories (VL) have had a special interest in recent years in which immersive education is attractive to students and complements the teaching and learning processes in institutions of diverse educational levels. Although there are several types of virtual laboratories used at various educational levels, there are important challenges for their design as an ad-hoc didactic strategy. One of the main difficulties in the application of educational technology is having virtual educational environments especially dedicated to the areas of engineering, which not only present interactive practical sessions where animations are manipulated, but also encourage the metacognitive analysis of the students; in order to build an autonomous and reflective learning through educational approaches that accompany educational innovation through new technologies. This article presents the design and implementation of a Virtual Laboratory of Electromagnetism (VLE) as a didactic strategy under the situated learning approach, remotely applied to university engineering students through portable versions of the didactic tool designed with Unity® in a public university of Mexico. This research describes the context of the case study, the methodology to identify the criteria under the approach of the situated learning educational model suggested for the development of the virtual environment, the characteristics of the design through animation software, and the educational intervention implemented at the university education level. Finally, an analysis of the results obtained after the application of the laboratory is carried out by studying the perception of the university community through exit surveys.