An investigation on adoption of the engineering simulation lab exercise: A case study in Multimedia University, Malaysia

Simulation‐based laboratory in engineering education become an important and appealing mode of laboratory replacing highly complex physical laboratory. The attitude of the students towards computers and experience of using the computers are very important factors that may affect the students' adoption of simulation‐based laboratory. In addition to those factors, prior knowledge and preferences on the engineering simulation software are also significant determinants that may influence the adoption of simulation lab exercise among the students. At the same time, different learning styles (cognitive) may affect how a student performs in different lab settings. Many researches have been conducted investigating the elements involved in adoption of computer applications but less work has been done looking into those elements in adoption of simulation lab exercise among engineering students. This research brings new sight in engineering education specifically in simulation‐based laboratory. In this article, we investigate the relationship between students' attitude towards computer, experience in computer usage, students' preferences and prior knowledge on simulation software, students' cognitive style and adoption of the simulation lab exercise among Electronics‐Telecommunications engineering students of Multimedia University, Malaysia. A conceptual model was designed to study the correlations among the variables in the model. The findings from the investigation indicated that all the factors—variables—have positive and significant relationships with the adoption of simulation lab exercise among the respondents in this study expect for the students' attitude towards computer and their preference of using engineering simulation software. Different cognitive styles among the students did not have any effects on their attitude towards computer and adoption to simulation‐based laboratory except for the kinesthetic style on adoption to simulation lab. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 20: 339–345, 2012