Francesco Fornetti is an associate professor of Radio Frequency Engineering and the programme director of the electrical and electronic engineering courses at the University of Bristol. He has been very active in the field of engineering pedagogy since 2010 and has developed innovative teaching methodologies that foster self-directed and enquiry-based learning and have influenced practice across the globe. The most impactful of these are virtual laboratories and home lab kits.
Virtual laboratories make it possible to easily create virtual circuits and virtual instruments that closely resemble their lab counterparts. They enable instructors to create meaningful and practical demos without the need for expensive equipment and enable students to turn their laptops into ubiquitous experimentation facilities that enable much broader and deeper exploration than physical ones. Home lab kits feature USB-powered instrumentation and battery-operated circuits that enable students to learn essential engineering skills and make it possible to carry out laboratory exercises any time and anywhere, thus removing the constraints of scheduled labs on campus.
Francesco pioneered these in 2015 and, in addition to greatly enhancing the students’ learning experience, they played a pivotal role during the pandemic and informed the design and deployment of similar initiatives across the entire faculty of engineering. Francesco’s work was recognised at the University of Bristol with two awards (2017 – Students’ Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2022 – Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award) and his shortlisted entry in the Most Innovative Teacher of the Year category at the Times Higher Education Awards 2022 was also highly commended.
Many of his resources are available for free on his popular ‘ExploreRF’ YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/ExploreRF ) and his work has also been disseminated through online publications and popular electronics websites. His pedagogical research extends beyond his engineering expertise to novel delivery methods, authentic online assessment and self-regulated learning.