Design, simulation and virtual implementation of a novel fundamental programmable logic controllers laboratory in a 3D virtual world

Thanks to the development of education and internet technologies, two-dimensional educational environments such as internet pages in distance education are starting to leave their places to three-dimensional virtual worlds with more communication and interaction tools, that offer with–without instructor, synchronous–asynchronous and individual–collaborative learning environments. In this study, a new basic programmable logic controllers laboratory was designed, simulated and virtually implemented on Second Life, a 3D virtual world with powerful features such as object construction and programming language. Then, this virtual programmable logic controllers laboratory was introduced to the students of Electricity and Energy Department of Usak University who had previously taken the programmable logic controllers course theoretically, and a survey about this laboratory was administered. One-hundred percent of the students who participated in the survey found this lab to be helpful, and 95.45% found it to be useful. Based on this lab design and evaluations, the specific and general conclusions including the pros and cons are discussed. © The Author(s) 2019.