Resumen

ZALDIVAR-COLADO, Aníbal. Real laboratory versus virtual laboratory in computer science careers. IE Rev. investig. educ. REDIECH [online]. 2019, vol.10, n.18, pp.9-22. ISSN 2448-8550.  https://doi.org/10.33010/ie_rie_rediech.v10i18.454.

The use of laboratories in computer science and computer science careers is undoubtedly valuable for students. Thanks to the evolution of communications, through the Internet it is possible to implement virtual laboratories with much lower costs than those of a real one, with the advantage of being available to all students at once, from any time and place. This study aims to determine the preferences between real laboratories and virtual laboratories amongst students. The investigation is descriptive correlational with a quantitative approach. The technique of data collection was carried out with a survey applied to 483 Mexican university students through the Internet using the tool Google Forms. Amongst the main results, it was found that 100% of the surveyed students claim to have a smartphone, which is a means to access the virtual services offered by the Internet. 82% of the subjects are satisfied with physical laboratories, finding a preference in the use of online laboratories amongst students who do not reside where their educational institution is located, with a correlation coefficient r= 0.858. Trends were found under the type of degree that subjects belong to, the ones in engineering (computer systems engineering, information systems engineering, mechatronics engineering, and software engineering) are more inclined to the use of physical laboratories than those in computer science, information technology and computer systems. University students who do not reside in the same city as their institution would prefer the virtual laboratory. Overall, there is a favorable opinion towards the two types of laboratories; the students feel satisfied with their use and perceive an improvement in the subjects of programming and in their overall performance.

Palabras llave : laboratory; virtual laboratory; e-Learning; higher education; computer science.

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