Analysis of needs for development of the internet of things virtual laboratory

¹ Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Halu Oleo, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia
² Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: nadzirin@uho.ac.id

Abstract

Industrial Era 4.0 and Society Era 5.0 are eras in which educational institutions are required to prepare graduates who are ready to enter a more competitive world of work, but the facilities and infrastructure for practicum learning in Indonesian educational institutions are not optimal, including virtual practicum facilities, as can be seen from the availability of virtual laboratories, which is still minimal, especially in higher education institutions compared to educational institutions abroad. A survey on the implementation of practicum learning in the pandemic era at Halu Oleo University showed that 37% of the practicum was implemented and 63% of the practicum was not implemented because there were no supporting facilities for virtual practicum learning during the pandemic. This study aims to analyze the students’ needs for the implementation of the internet of things (IoT) virtual laboratory at Halu Oleo University. The analysis instruments include (1) IoT laboratory facilities; (2) IoT courses; and (3) learning processes and practica in IoT courses. This type of research is quantitative research with descriptive statistical analysis techniques. The results showed that 80.58% of the students strongly agreed with development of the IoT virtual laboratory as a means to support practical learning at Halu Oleo University.