E-LEARNING APPLIED FOR TRAINING ON SAFETY AND
HYGIENE IN ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS DEGREE
Maria-Dolores Redel-Macias, Pilar Martinez-Jimenez
High Politechnic School, Cordoba University, Campus Rabanales, Cordoba, Spain
Antonio-Jose Cubero-Atienza
High Politechnic School, Cordoba University, Campus Rabanales, Cordoba, Spain
Keywords: e-Learning, Asynchronous discussion forum, Periodical online quizzes, Virtual laboratory.
Abstract: The use in the university of new teaching resources by e-learning, is becoming in a common practice,
encouraging student participation, and improving academic achievement in learning the subject. An
experience in the Safety and Hygiene course of Electronic Engineering degree, at the University of Cordoba
–Spain-, has been developed by using different techniques like discussion forums, online quizzes, and a
novel and powerful tool: a set of virtual laboratories about noise and vibrations at labour environment which
are based on internet. These virtual laboratories promote the learning by different viewpoints like theoretical
training, legal knowledge, learning videos, self-training exercises and simulation of use and working of real
equipment for field measurement. These virtual laboratories had been evaluated by students who use them,
being the results which are reflected in this work, highly satisfactory.
1 INTRODUCTION
Last years, the increasing of e-learning resources in
Higher Education, in Spain and others countries in
the world is a reality. Students are very integrated
with these technologies because they obtain a
feedback on their work nearly in real time.
E-learning is not a “gift-wrapping” of materials
of the traditional on-line courses (Fischer, 2003).
The participation in e-learning of the students does
not only depend on personal factors or on
preferences, but also on the nature of the technology
employed and on the pedagogy followed. An
effective learning environment should be very well
organized and it should be made quite clear what is
expected of students (Swan, et al., 2000). The main
challenge should be, in addition to the organization
of the course, the teacher’s participation and the
student-to-student and student-to-teacher
interactions in the activities proposed. The teacher’s
role is fundamental since he/she has to propose
issues of interest, trigger participation in the course,
and make an effort to understand any difficulties the
students may have. Therefore, teachers should not
limit themselves to being a mere means of
transmission but should acquire a more complex
protagonism (De Laat et al., 2003).
Fowell, Southgate & Bligh (1999) suggest that
students are best served by the provision of a diverse
range of assessment methods as individual methods
may disadvantage some students. They also suggest
that from the teacher perspective, using a selection
of methods allows performance from different
sources to be related. Seale, Chapman & Davey
(2000), who investigated which types of assessment
students found most motivating for their learning,
found that having a range of assessment
opportunities was most motivating. They also found
that the relevance and content of the assessment
appeared to influence student motivation as well as
the enthusiasm of the teachers. Feedback on
performance, especially that of a formative nature,
has been shown to be a valuable tool in the learning
process enabling students to assess their own
progress and understanding and remedy any
weakness exposed by the assessment (Zakrzewski &
Bull, 1999). However, for this feedback to be
258
Redel-Macias M., Martinez-Jimenez P. and Cubero Atienza A..
E-LEARNING APPLIED FOR TRAINING ON SAFETY AND HYGIENE IN ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS DEGREE.
DOI: 10.5220/0003337802580263
In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2011), pages 258-263
ISBN: 978-989-8425-49-2
Copyright
c
 2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

effective it needs to be provided early in the learning
process and have some degree of prescription about
how to improve performance (Wiliam & Black,
1996). Fowell, et al. (1999) argue that the
presentation of results also require the provision of
effective feedback to students, in both summative
and formative assessment tasks, enabling students to
identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to
improve future performance.
The basic objective of this work was to
encourage the acquisition of skills by the students
and to improve the global teaching-learning process
in Engineering studies. For this purpose, a
modification of the teaching methodologies used in
the subject of Safety and Hygiene at Work was
approached, starting from the traditional teaching
based on teachers’ classes and examinations, and
arriving at another kind which combined several
techniques, such as asynchronous discussion forums,
online quizzes and group tutoring, among others.
2 METHODOLOGY
With the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)
the workload of an average student during an
academic year of 60 credits should be comprised
between 1500 and 1800 hours, so that it is vital to
establish a teaching methodology aimed at
integrating the acquisition of knowledge and skills
by the students by distributing their workload
coherently with the objectives and assignation of
credits.
The Safety and Hygiene course at work has a
total of 4.5 ECTs assigned to it, so that it is
necessary to draw up a students’ work programme
with a total between 112 and 135 hours of work. The
main themes dealt with in this subject are:
1. Evolution of Safety and Hygiene at Work.
2. Health. Professional risks.
3. Legal aspects on Safety and Hygiene.
4. Concept of work accidents. Factors.
5. Techniques of analysis in safety.
6. Operative techniques in safety.
7. Personal protective equipment (PPE).
8. Industrial Hygiene.
9. Theoretical Hygiene.
10. Physical environmental agents: Noise and
vibrations.
11. Physical environmental agents:
Environment Thermal.
12. Protection against electric shocks.
13. Design of place for video display terminal
users.
The general structure of the course is shown in
Figure 1.
As a teaching support tool it included the use of
the Moodle e-learning platform, concretely with the
employment of asynchronous discussion forums,
periodical online quizzes and a Virtual Laboratory in
Noise and Vibrations.
2.1 Asynchronous Discussion Forums
The asynchronous discussion forum is a
communication tool extensively employed in on-line
courses to improve the interaction with students and
obtain a fast feedback of their knowledge, doubts
and opinions. Gibbs, Simpson, and Bernas (2008)
cite the benefits in learning from the asynchronous
discussion forums since the students control the
communication and access to information by means
of this tool.
Figure 1: General structure of the course.
In this subject, the forum has been configured as
an obligatory discipline for all the members of the
group and with an automatic monitoring of the
answers and questions posed by e-mail to all the
group members. In addition, their participation is
gratified with 10% on the final mark, taking into
account the quality of the contributions of each of
the participants. The objective sought with the use of
the forum is to maintain the constant attention of the
group on the topics proposed, to encourage the
investigatory spirit of the students in the supplying
of solutions to the problems posed, and, therefore, to
evolve an improvement of the group’s knowledge,
Theory classes: 21h.
Practice classes: 11h.
Expositions and seminars.
Specialized tutorials (with physical presence or
virtual):
1. Collective: 4h.
2. Individual: 2h.
Directed academic activities:
1. With a teacher: 9h.
2. Without a teacher: 9h.
Other personal autonomous work:
1. Study hours: 32h.
2. Preparation of personal work: 9h.
3. Participation in the forum: 4h.
4. Preparation of group tutorials: 3h.
Examinations:
1. Written exam: 2h.
2. Oral exams.
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directing from a distance the questions-replies put
forward. In spite of the well known advantages of
the forum, some authors like Hew and Cheung
(2003), through two cases studied examining
facilitators’ habits of mind in a synchronous online
discussion concluded that over 30% of the students
presented an “awareness of own thinking” and were
“open minded”. In this sense, the teacher’s role in
the forum is fundamental. In the forum of the Safety
and Hygiene at Work course the performance of the
teacher with respect to the contributions of the
students to the forum is twofold: when the students
pose their doubts on the subject in question the
teacher does not interrupt and waits for other
students to answer the question, so that, if the
answer is correct, he/she does not have to intervene
or only does so to praise them or complete their
contribution in this course. On the other hand, if the
forum activity flags the teacher proposes some new
debate issues related to the theme of the subject.
Finally, the themes discussed in the forum are
pooled through practice sessions in which students
prepare an oral exposition in groups of 4 or 5 and
debate with the rest of the group on the opinions
expressed in the forum.
2.2 Periodical Online Quizzes
To maximize the students’ achievement, the teachers
need to receive effective feedback from them by
means of different tools (Dobson, 2008; Seale,
2000). Using online quizzes in the e-learning
platform it is aimed to motivate the periodical study
of the students at the rate programmed in the subject
and to analyze the strong and weak points of the
subject. Each quiz is open for 4 days and the time
estimated for its completion varies between 30-45
minutes depending on the theme in question. The
questions come with multiple or paired answers and
the order both of the questions and the answers is in
a random form. As the structure of the course is
divided into differential blocks, at the end of each
theme the student has to do the corresponding quiz.
A second action stage consists of analyzing the
results of the quizzes, observing the questions with
most wrong answers, the most correctly answered
ones, the percentage of participation, etc. For this
purpose, tutorial sessions with the complete group
are organized in which these concepts are debated,
reinforcing and ensuring those in which the worst
results have been obtained.
2.3 Virtual Laboratory
An important part of the software
applicationscurrently being developed are oriented
towards teaching and the transmission of knowledge.
This type of application seeks to stimulate the end
user with educational technology and to facilitate the
acceleration of learning thanks to the application’s
interactivity.
One important factor in the increase in the use of
new technologies as a teaching tool is the expansion
of the software through Internet. Internet is the
means which brings these complementary teaching
tools nearer to any user so that they can benefit from
them at any moment (Jimenez, 2009).
The main objective that it is aimed to fulfil is the
development of a software application which makes
up for the absence of information experienced by
students of technical studies when acquiring
theoretical knowledge and carrying out practical
classes in laboratories, specifically in the classes
corresponding to experimentation with the
instruments for the measurement of vibrations and
noise.
The secondary objectives are:
• To develop an application containing
information referring to the instrumentation
and measurement methods.
• The application has direct access to the
regulation in force on the protection of the
health and safety of workers against risks
related to exposure to machine vibrations.
• To include extensive information on the
possible effects on workers brought on by
vibrations and noise.
• The software has a complete training
tutorial for expert technicians.
• To permit the user to become familiarized
with some of the measurement instruments
by means of the simulation of their
functioning in different work places.
• To permit the updating of the information it
contains through a resource manager with a
database which contributes dynamism to
the application itself.
• The virtual laboratory has a general
interface for the presentation of different
applications related to Work-related Risk
Prevention.
• The web page works in a “multiplatform”
environment. The application can be used
in any computer regardless of its operative
system.
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• It is intuitive and easy to use as it is aimed
at people who do not necessarily have any
extensive knowledge of the subject.
2.3.1 Description of the Software
In the portal developed it is aimed to concentrate in
one single software all the aspects necessary for a
specialist in the prevention of work-related risks:
noise and vibrations (Figure 2).
Figure 2: First frame of the virtual laboratories on
work-related noise and vibration portal.
With it, the drawbacks which real laboratory
learning entails disappear:
• The high cost of instruments for measuring
noise.
• The need for a teacher to supervise the
operations carried out in each machine.
• The need to fit out a laboratory in order to
carry out these practical classes.
• The need to adopt a timetable to set up the
practical classes.
The aspects included are as follows:
• A tutorial to guide the technician, supplying
him/her with information on different
physics fields dealing with noise and
vibrations, the instrumentation to be used in
measuring them, the regulations in force,
updated, to be applied during that
measuring process together with the
different configuration parameters to be
used in controlling noise, and a series of
tutorial videos which facilitate the
understanding of the handling of the
devices related to this theme.
• Gallery in which there is a useful educational
illustrated reference with information on all
the machines and instruments employed.
• Virtual Laboratory or Simulation of a
dosimeter, a sonometer, a calibrator with its
respective measurement and calibration
processes, and vibrometers.
• Analyses of results, interpretation of images,
carrying out calculations, resolution of
cases, etc.
• Flexible interface for access to information
available.
• Opportunity for the learner to repeat the
practical activities as many times as he/she
considers it necessary until the didactic
results wished are achieved.
• The learning timetable is established by the
users themselves in accordance with their
needs.
• Possibility of use of software at all times.
2.3.1.1 Tutorial Module
In this module all the norms and legal ordinances
related to the prevention of work-related risks, the
technical documentation of the measurement teams,
etc., can be found. Also, due to the fact that in work-
related risk prevention the legal regulations are of
vital importance, the user disposes of a tutorial with
the legislation in force in order to find out the
regulations concerning vibrations and noise at work.
The information given is classified in accordance
with the existing norms, including laws, royal
decrees and directives.
The information given in the tutorial is structured
in the following way:
• Physical properties of vibrations and noise:
in this section an extended definition of
vibrations and noise is made.
• Parameters which define the vibrations and
noise at work: In this section each of the
parameters intervening is defined.
• Spectrum analysis of vibrations: In this
section some physical aspects of the
vibrations phenomenon are described in
relation to their study in the frequency
domain.
• Vibration and noise measurement
techniques: In this section, the diverse
practices employed in measuring are
described, depending on the situation, the
objective, the place and conditions of the
environment in which these measurements
are made.
• Effects or pathologies of vibrations and
noise on people: In this section, a detailed
description is given of the effects that the
work-related risks being studied can cause.
• Control systems: In this section, the
methods for improving the vibrations and
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noise or for restricting them to tolerable
levels are described.
o Control systems in the source
o Vibration uncoupling systems
o Control systems by Individual
Protection Equipments (EPI).
o Organization controls.
• Vibrations and noise in industry: In this
section the risks that it is possible to
localize in industry are detailed.
2.3.1.2 Help Module and Consult
Video-Tutorial
The Help module consists of a series of documents
in an HTML format, which explain the functioning
of each of the sections making up the program.
Some videos are used for providing
complementary information on certain aspects
included in other modules of the application (Figure
3).
Figure 3: Video-tutorials.
2.3.1.3 Simulation Laboratory Module
The user can access to a laboratory in which he/she
is shown a series of simulations in order to prepare
him/her in the measurement of vibrations and noise
and the interpretation of his/her results. As an
example, some of the simulations available are:
• Calibration process: Simulation of the
calibration process of a vibrometer
controlling a possible incorrect calibration.
• Vibrometer: Simulation corresponding to
the handling of this measurement device.
• Simulation in work places.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Using the first two activities described in 2.2 and 2.3
sections, forum and periodical quizzes, it has been
possible to check the progress of the group with
respect to the subject by means of its marks and
participation in the forum. Some of the most
interesting themes proposed in the forum were the
debate on the difference between risk and hazard,
with a participation of 21%, and the question asking
what type of risk a burn was, with a participation of
35.7%. With regard to the quizzes, 66.7% of the
students who completed 90% of the quizzes placed
online during the academic year passed the theory
exam. Conversely, those students who only did 33%
of the quizzes did not pass the final exam.
For the evaluation of the Virtual Laboratory a
survey with 26 questions divided into the following
categories was made (see Figure 4):
1. Help.
2. Easy to use.
3. Encourages motivation.
4. Multisensorial.
5. Promotes learning.
6. Adequate theory content.
7. Assessment of the interface environment.
These questions were scored on a scale of 0-5, and,
in addition, the students were asked about the
advantages and drawbacks of the use of the Virtual
Laboratory by means of a free-answer question,
expressing their opinions and feelings about it. Over
50% of the students commented on their usefulness
and great similarity with real laboratories as one of
the main advantages. However, nearly 30% pointed
out that the principal drawback was the bad quality
of the videos and the excessive documentation in the
tutorials.
The evaluation in future courses, whereas the
improvements that will be introduce from gain
experience, allowing access to a reliable diagnosis in
relation to the advantages and disadvantages of this
kind of training tools.
Figure 4: Results of questions 1-7 on the VLs.
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4 CONCLUSIONS
By putting into practice this e-learning course
combining the teaching strategies mentioned, such
as the asynchronous discussion forum, online
quizzes and group tutoring, we have succeeded in
increasing the degree of skill acquisition by the
students, at the same time as controlling the effort
necessary for this depending on the evolution of the
course programmed.
The teaching strategy most valued by students
was the Virtual Laboratory, both for its theory
content and its great similarity to the real laboratory.
Second, it was demonstrated that the online quizzes
controlled the periodical efforts of the students, and
their results can be seen quantitatively in the number
of passes obtained in the final examination. Finally,
the forum has been extremely useful for the
resolution of questions dealt with in the class, with
feedback being obtained from students participating
in it of the issues triggering their interest most. The
success of this type of learning undoubtedly depends
on the students, and, basically, on the role assumed
by the teacher who has to be involved in the use of
the VL, in the analysis of the results of the online
quizzes, and in the participation in the forum.
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