Since last Monday, the schools and departments of Tsinghua have carried out the first week of online teaching successfully, with all kinds of customized courses and interaction methods.

In addition to lectures and discussions, can students also have off-campus experiments?

For the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering, the answer is a firm “yes”.

Before her “Principle of Electric Circuits” class started, Professor Zhu Guiping had sent the experiment equipment to her students by express delivery. The equipment is a portable, smart platform, which is called a Lab of Electric Intelligence (LEI).

Associate Professor Yu Qingguang teaches “Theory and System of Programmable Controller and Inverter” this semester. Together with his colleague, he reconstructed the laboratory’s server and router on campus, enabling students, from all over the country, to control experimental equipment in Tsinghua remotely in real time. They have also installed a webcam in the lab, so that students can check their working equipment with a simple touch on the phone.

For some other experiments for major courses, students can visit the department’s online platform (www.cloudpss.net) and carry out simulations by designing experimental procedures and key parameters independently. Thanks to the clear structure and flexibility of the system, students can freely adjust their experiment at any time. The full simulation process is recorded automatically, thus facticity of the simulations is effectively ensured.

Learning is certainly a process that needs creativity. The chances for innovation lie in its content, as well as its form.

Under the careful guidance of Tsinghua faculty, there is nothing that can stop Tsinghua students from pursuing knowledge, learning from online lectures and performing safe experiments in the right conditions.