Guided Independent Learning Package for

Advanced Topics in Electrical Engineering,

Automation and Control Systems
Michel Van Dessel, member IEEE 1
Geert Van Ham 2
Geert Deconinck, sr. member IEEE 3
Tiene Nobels 4
Philippe Saey 5
Jos Knockaert 6
Eric Claesen 7
1
Campus De Nayer – Departement Industriële Wetenschappen, Michel.VanDessel@denayer.wenk.be
2
KH Kempen – Departement Industrieel Ingenieur en Biotechniek, Geert.Van.Ham@KHK.be
3
K.U. Leuven – ESAT/ELECTA, Geert.Deconinck@esat.kuleuven.be
4
Groep T Leuven Hogeschool – Departement Industrieel Ingenieur, Tiene.Nobels@GROEPT.be
5
KaHo Sint-Lieven – Departement Industrieel Ingenieur, Philippe.Saey@kahosl.be
6
KHBO – Departement Industriële Wetenschappen en Technologie, Jos.Knockaert@howest.be
7
KHLim – Departement Industriële Wetenschappen en Technologie, Eric.Claesen@KHLIM.be

Abstract Such students benefit from dedicated help when having to

Ever more students start their master programme with a master advanced topics in electrical engineering, automation
bachelor degree which does not provide the ideal background and control systems, such as electrical systems (medium and
for their study. Such students benefit from dedicated help when high voltage, power protection, power quality and
they have to master advanced topics in automation, control and harmonics), power electronics (prototyping, electromagnetic
electrical engineering. Because individual help is adequate but
too labour-intensive, a self-study package has been developed by compatibility), automation (drive control, drive efficiency,
which individual students can select an optimal path to update audible noise measurement, characterising wind generators,
their required knowledge -depending on their foregoing industrial networks, fault diagnosis, machine vision), lighting
trajectory- and acquire the required competencies. Topics cover technology, etc.
electrical systems (medium and high voltage, power protection, Because individual help is adequate but too labour-
power quality), power electronics (prototyping, electromagnetic
compatibility), automation (drive control, drive efficiency, intensive, a guided self-study approach has been developed
industrial networks and diagnosis). The guided self-study by which individual students can select an optimal path to
approach consists of a handbook and a digital learning update their required knowledge, depending on their
platform; practical hands-on laboratories take place, distributed foregoing trajectory, and acquire the required competencies.
over several university colleges. A final assessment checks This approach has been conceived jointly by the authors from
whether students obtained the required competencies.
Approximately 12 groups of students, from 9 programmes in 7 seven different Flemish university colleges and the university
institutions, cover 25 topics and laboratory visits yearly. of Leuven, Belgium [1, 2] and is integrated in the educational
programmes of those institutions. This approach covers for
Keywords: guided independent learning, adaptive learning,
electrical engineering, automation and control systems. each topic a selection of the following elements.
A. An electronic self assessment tool where the students
I. INTRODUCTION can check whether they master the pre-required knowledge.
Ever more students start their academic master programme B. Introductory theoretical texts, where the basic theory
with an academic bachelor degree which does not provide the and foundations of the topic are provided.
ideal background for this master study. They have studied at a C. A set of practice oriented texts, where the advanced
different institution with a different set of courses, spent a topic is treated from a hands on perspective, as an immediate
year abroad or they studied a different programme for their preparation to a practical laboratory session.
bachelor degree, or finalised a professional bachelor degree D. A physical setup in a laboratory environment where
first. Additionally, because of the credit systems, a significant students obtain a hands on experience for the specific topics.
portion of the students follows an individual trajectory Several of these setups have been described in earlier and
because not all credits from previous years have been recent work of the authors [3, 4, 12, 13]. Similiar setups for
acquired. both on site and distance learning are reported in [19 – 21].

978-1-4244-7252-9/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE 35

 E. A set of questions to be filled during or after the III. CAPITA SELECTA IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING,
laboratory sessions in order to check whether the students AUTOMATION AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
obtained the required competencies. For the collaboration project among the different
F. An evaluation form with which students assess the institutions, the advanced topics in electrical engineering,
material and practicalities in order to continuously improve automation and control systems have been selected on the
the guided independent learning approach. basis of the available research and educational experience
The guided independent learning approach is materialised among the different partner institutions and the relevance of
on three levels. the material for the engineering curriculum. These topics
- A handbook [5] brings together all texts in a handy format have been named "Capita Selecta" to handle the diversity of
for the students. subjects within one framework. The programmes at the
- The digital learning platform Toledo [6] is used by all different institutions all take a different set of elements from
students in the different institutions, hosting the self these selected topics, and they have integrated these topics
assessment tools, the evaluation forms as well as additional into their set of obligatory or elective courses in the
background texts and links. Toledo is the electronic learning curriculum. Fig. 1 shows the cover of the handbook [5].
environment of the Associatie K.U. Leuven [1], based on the A. Contents of the Capita Selecta
commercial Blackboard software package [7]. The advanced topics are grouped into four categories.
- The laboratory setups at seven locations in university The first category deals with generation, transmission and
colleges and the university throughout Flanders. distribution of electricity and contains 6 chapters.
This paper describes the need for the guided self-study 1. Scaled medium voltage grid: grid structure, security of
package from the perspective of non-traditional intake into supply, operation, protection.
the study programmes in section 2. The contents of the self- 2. Deducing primary line currents for electrical faults at the
study package and its relation to guided independent learning secondary winding of a distribution transformer.
is discussed in section 3. An actual trajectory through one 3. High voltage testing.
dedicated advanced topic is illustrated in section 4. Students 4. Harmonics in low voltage grids: basic theoretical
feedback is summarised in section 5. Conclusions and a aspects.
future outlook are provided in section 6. 5. Harmonics due to electrical drives.
6. Micro grids (chapter to be added in the future).
II. INVENTORY OF NON TRADITIONAL INTAKE INTO The second category deals with power electronics and
MASTER PROGRAMMES
contains 3 chapters.
The following section deals with the intake in the relevant 7. Power electronics: simulation and use of the Triphase
master programmes (master of engineering sciences, master rapid prototyping platform [9].
of industrial science) for the sake of identifying the non 8. Parasitic components in power electronic circuits.
traditional intake, based on the backgrounds of the students, 9. EMC and electric drives.
into the master programmes. The goal is to motivate the need The third category deals with automation, control and
for an adaptive learning trajectory towards the advanced drives and contains 10 chapters.
topics in automation, control and electrical engineering. In 10. Structure of control blocks for electric drives (chapter
earlier work an inventory of non traditional intake into master to be added in the future).
programmes was presented based on a survey of the involved 11. Control for electric drives.
lecturers during the academic year 2008-2009 [8]. The 12. Practical aspects to optimise control for electric drives
premise that there is a significant non traditional intake in the (chapter to be added in the future).
master programmes has been confirmed by this inventory. 13. Characterising a wind turbine.
Typically transition programmes or individual trajectories are 14. Determining drive efficiency according to different
used to bring the students to the required entry level of the standards.
master programme. These programmes are determined by the 15. Balancing rotors.
programme director or programme coordinator. 16. Sound measurement for electric installations.
Nevertheless, a significant level difference remains among 17. Fault diagnosis in automation installations.
the students, based on the background (and obviously also 18. Industrial communication networks: set-up,
depending on their capabilities and motivation). Because configuration and diagnosis.
master programmes require such students with different 19. Practical aspects of machine vision.
backgrounds to acquire competencies in advanced topics in The final category deals with lighting technology and
electrical engineering, automation and control systems, a contains 4 chapters.
guided self study approach that allows students to follow a 20. The eye.
particular trajectory is utmost welcome in order to maximise 21. Radiometric and photometric quantities.
the opportunities for students to successfully acquire the 22. Colorimetrics.
required competencies. 23. Design of lighting installations.

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 d

g c

Fig. 2. The global scheme of GIL [10].

The self study guide follows this GIL concept. The central
learning activities are the hands on laboratory sessions
encouraging the learners (students) to organise themselves to
reach the goals, based on an individual trajectory throughout
the accompanying material. These goals are threefold:
1. Knowledge: gather insights and understand the state-of-
Fig. 1. Cover of the handbook "Capita Selecta in electrical engineering, the-art of the concerned items;
automation and control systems" 2. Competence: be able to apply theory in practical lab
B. Guided independent learning sessions, and to report correctly, concisely and completely;
The entire concept of the course fits with the educational 3. Attitude: be able to evaluate measurement results
concept of guided independent learning (GIL) [4, 10], based critically, to efficiently and adequately carry out assignments;
on the assertion that teaching and research must be closely and to adhere to safety instructions.
connected. As much of the pooled laboratory equipment that The learning environment is adapted to reach these goals. It
is the basis for the advanced topics has been used or acquired is bordered by the pre-existing knowledge of the students and
in research projects, this link is easy to make. There are the requirements of the topical items. This determines the
several examples of publications that were published by the contents of preparation phase (in advance), laboratory phase
lecturers about scientific research performed using laboratory (on site) and reporting phase (after the lab session). An
infrastructure which is also available to the students [11-16]. electronic learning environment, supported by a web site with
The GIL concept itself specifies a number of goals for tools, examples and documents, contains relevant material. In
university teaching as well as responsibilities of both students several cases, it is complemented by lecturer’s ex cathedra
and faculty members, as is often the case for student centered sessions. Several electronic formative assessments allow
learning [17]. Elements to consider when elaborating the students to autonomously assess their level after the
concept are schematically portrayed in fig. 2. It specifies that: preparation phase. During the laboratory sessions, emphasis
(1) learning activities are at the core of the concept, is on the active participation of the students, working in small
(2) learning activities are focused on reaching the goals, teams (3 to 6 students) under supervision. Different
(3) depending on their characteristics, learners will more or deliverables ensure that milestones are met, and continuous
less spontaneously engage in these learning activities, feedback from the supervisors ensures that cognitive and
(4) evaluation has to be tuned to the goals, behaviour goals are met.
(5) support either through materials or instructional Evaluation is based on continuous assessment of the
approaches, is oriented toward stimulating appropriate students, qualitative and quantitative task results, reports, and
learning activities as described in [18], and attitude. The mark is jointly determined by the local
(6) goal oriented interactions between learning activities supervisor (knowing the laboratory sessions best) and the
and support are context dependent. visiting supervisor (knowing the students best).

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 IV. ACTUAL TRAJECTORY
This section provides an elaboration of a specific advanced
topic, showing the opportunities for an adapted trajectory
throughout the provided material, in order to take any
deficiencies in the pre-required knowledge of the students
into account. The concerned topic deals with ‘power quality:
the influence of harmonics on a low voltage installation’. The
main goal of this advanced topic is to acquaint the student
with harmonic distortion, to understand and recognise typical
phenomena of harmonics, and to learn how to mitigate the
effects of them. The major element supporting this goal is a
three hour hands on session on a laboratory setup of a low
voltage installation. The setup consists of a separate 10 kVA
transformer on which several loads (linear and non-linear)
and filter types can be switched on and off. Measurements of
voltage, current and harmonic distortion can be done at each
level in the setup in fig. 3. Using a set of elaborate questions
and assignments the students are guided through the session
to acquire the competencies of the topic. The switching of the
loads and the measurements are remotely controllable via a
LabVIEW® interface (fig. 4). In this way a group of
maximum 12 students can do the session at the same time.
To be able to successfully execute the hands on session Fig. 3. Laboratory setup for power quality experiments.
students need to be well prepared. To that end a theoretical
course text, two LabVIEW® simulations and an elaborate
laboratory text are available for them. The theoretical course
text is included in chapter 4 of the handbook [5] and
discusses the theoretical foundations of harmonic distortion,
its effects and mitigation. Additionally it contains information
related to harmonic grid pollution for students that want to
explore the topic to further extent. The text is written for non
specialised students independent of their foregoing trajectory.
The first LabVIEW® simulation ‘Simulharm’ visualises the
abstract phenomenon of harmonic distortion, its causes and
its effects on the grid (fig. 5). This deepens the insight in the
theoretical background. The second LabVIEW® simulation
‘Simulnet’ provides a computer model of the laboratory setup
(fig. 6). In this simulation students can switch on and off Fig. 4. User interface for remote control of the laboratory setup.
multiple linear and nonlinear loads to visualise their influence
on harmonic pollution; they can integrate different filters and - If he scores between 8 and 12, he has a reasonable
manipulate parameters to see their mitigating effect and more. knowledge of the subject; hence there is no need to study the
Finally the laboratory text describes the laboratory setup, the theoretical course text. It suffices to prepare both simulations
goals of the session and the laboratory assignment. ‘Simulharm’ and ‘Simulnet’ well and read the laboratory text
A self test on the digital learning platform ‘Toledo’ [6] has in advance of the hands on session.
been developed to guide the students through the preparatory - If he scores 13 or more, he has a good knowledge of the
material and to allow them to evaluate whether they are subject and only has to prepare the ‘Simulnet’ simulation and
sufficiently prepared for the hands on session. The test read the laboratory text in advance of the hands on session.
consists of 15 multiple choice questions. Depending on the An assessment of the students after the hands on session
results an individual learning trajectory is proposed to the evaluates their acquired competencies. Thanks to this
student. combination of learning materials in an individual trajectory,
- If a student scores less than 8 on 15, then his theoretical students with different backgrounds are able to successfully
basis of the subject is insufficient and he needs to carefully complete the hands on session. An initial try-out of this
study the theoretical course text, as well as intensively learning trajectory on a group of students yielded satisfactory
prepare both simulations 'Simulharm' and 'Simulnet' and read results. All students had been able to successfully complete
the laboratory text in advance of the hands on session. the session and evaluated the concept positively. Further try-
outs are necessary to refine the individual trajectories.

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Fig. 5. Simulharm: simulation package visualising harmonic distortion.

Fig. 6. Simulnet: simulation model of the electrical installation.

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