VIABILITY STUDY FOR THE APPLICATION OF VIRTUAL LABORATORIES IN TELECOMMUNICATION UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

Due to the growing interest in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) within the environment of Educational Innovation, a study was carried out considering the possibility of replacing the laboratories in telecommunication engineering courses (specialization in Sound and Image processing) with virtual environments. In this paper, in which we summarize a more extensive work carried out previously [1], firstly we give a general overview on the state of the art in implementing virtual laboratories in different educational institutions world-wide (both nationally and locally), focusing hereby on those being offered in telecommunication degrees. Secondly, different types of applications are analyzed (simulated and in remote laboratories) to find out how they could be applied to telecommunication courses; furthermore, we discuss which advantages or disadvantages these applications present compared to traditional laboratories. In view of the upcoming courses for the newly started undergraduate studies which have been designed in accordance to the Bologna process, we have analyzed the subjects that are presently imparted at the EUITT/UPM (Escuela Universitaria de Ingenieros Tecnicos de Telecomunicacion / Universidad Politecnica de Madrid) within the degree of Sound and Image Processing, which is just in the moment of change: while the "plan 2000" is in its last year, the new undergraduate courses still not have been lectured all. The objective was to find out which of the former courses could be adequate to admit a partial or total substitution of the traditional "hands-on labs", so that the new courses could be designed making use of these new possibilities. As an outcome of these analyses, we present some possible implementations for four of the subjects which will be imparted in a similar format in the undergraduate degrees that are proposed.