Engineering is one of the most practical fields. Regardless of the discipline, engineering students require hands-on experiences during their undergraduate studies. In addition to the standard laboratory courses, there are multiple ways of integrating the hands-on experience into undergraduate engineering curricula. Projects (Bernhard and Carstensen 2003; Cartensen and Bernhard 2009), problem-based learning (PBL) (Yadav, Subedi and Lundeberg 2011), virtual experimentation (VE) (Kolloffel and Jong 2013; Finkelstein 2005; Zacharia 2007), case study analysis (Bull, Jackson and Lancaster 2010; Campbell, Saffih and Nigim 2006), and field visits are some of those techniques. This article provides the results of the hands-on learning experience provided by case study analysis with embedded virtual experimentation at an introductory level course. Each case presented a common problem or a misconception in electrical circuits. Case studies have been used in disciplines such as business, law, and medicine (Davis and Yadav 2014). Starting in the mid-1900s, problem-based learning became a part of STEM majors (Davis and Yadav 2014). In engineering, case study analysis is widely used in engineering ethics training and dispute resolution (Bass, Beecham and Noll 2018; Fleddermann 2000; Scharnell and Sabol 2018). In electrical engineering, case studies were implemented in junior, senior, or graduate-level electrical circuits courses focused on a single electrical circuitry concept (Fan, Wang, Han and Sun 2013; Jenko 2012; Prabhu, Nande, Shukla and Ade 2016; Prasad and Punekar 2019; Qu and Wang 2016; Rutkowski and Moscinska 2011; Suyono, Hasanah, Kuncoro and Mokhlis 2017; Yundong, Xiaoming, Erzhi and Licheng 2000).This paper presents the implementation of a case study analysis in an introductory level electrical circuits course. According to the author’s knowledge, this is the first time hybrid implementation of a case study analysis with problem-based learning (PBL) and virtual experimentation (VE) in an introductory level electrical circuits course globally. The student body of this course was comprised of a diverse group of engineering disciplines including, 12 from electrical engineering, 18 from mechanical engineering, 3 from electrical-mechanical engineering, one from cybersecurity, and 4 transfer students with discipline not yet assigned. In terms of graduation standing there were 14 sophomores, 17 juniors, and 7 seniors. As mentioned above, this was an introductory electrical course, and a significant number of juniors and seniors were from non-electrical engineering majors. The following sections illustrate the cases, feedback collection method, the results from this initial implementation, and next steps.

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Dr. Ashanthi Maxworth