Engaging academics from an engineering training college with Arduino sensors using an academic development workshop

The advent of the internet of things has given added impetus to the development and use of many electronic sensors which are often controlled by some or other microcontroller. Facilitating academic training on these devices has become a necessity, especially when keeping in mind that academics, in turn, need to train students in the effective use of them. The purpose of this paper is to describe how engineering academics from a training college have been able to engage with the theory and practice of sensors applicable to the Arduino microcontroller, thereby strengthening or reconstructing their conceptual knowledge of these devices. A two-day academic development workshop, or practical workshop for academics, was designed by specialists in the field of electronic measurements to address this need for training. Ten academics registered for the practical workshop which first sought to refresh their conceptual knowledge through means of an interactive presentation using an electronic responsive system. Then, “hands-on” laboratory practice was facilitated where the academics had to integrate various sensors onto the Arduino board, physically writing and compiling the software program that would control them. An online post-questionnaire was then used to review their conceptual knowledge again, in order to ascertain the impact of the practical workshop. Results indicate that the academics improved their conceptual knowledge regarding the use of capacitors, Zener diodes, transformers, reed switches and passive infrared receivers. However, their conceptual knowledge regarding photocells deteriorated, requiring the facilitators to review their discussion on it. However, the academics indicated that the practical workshop was relevant to their work and that they would encourage fellow colleagues to attend this practical workshop in the future. It is recommended that more such practical workshops be offered by specialists in the field to enable fellow academics to improve their conceptual knowledge and practice within the field of microcontrollers and sensors. This would contribute to meeting the requirements of continuous professional development.