A virtual electronics lab for college and university classes
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- 261parts on the bench
- 31boards running now
- 1.00xreal time, on every board
Mokxi is a virtual electronics lab that runs in the browser. This page is for the instructor. It explains how a class works, how students join with a code, how work is graded, and what it costs.
The circuit above is a full adder on three 74HC chips. It runs here, on this page. Your students get the same editor, with breadboards, chips, microcontrollers, meters and a scope.
Students join with a code
Make a class at /class. Give it a name. Mokxi makes a six-character join code. The code uses capital letters and numbers, and it leaves out O, I, L, 0 and 1, so nobody mixes them up on a projector.
Students type the code at /class and press the button. Each student needs an account to join, because a class is a list of names. A student without an account signs up first, and the code is filled back in for them.
You can also copy an invite link for the class. A student who follows it lands on the join form with the code already in it.
Lab sections and seats
Make one class for each lab section. Your seats are shared across all your classes, and a student in two of your sections counts once.
The class page shows the count, such as 12 of 40 students. When a class is full, a student who tries to join is told to ask the teacher. They are never shown a price.
Assign work and grade it
Assign work from a template, one of your own circuits, or a lesson. Add a due date if you like. You can lock the parts and code you want kept in place.
Add checks to an assignment: a pin level, a blink rate, a PWM signal, serial output, a node voltage, an LED that is lit, or a pin after a button press. Up to twenty checks fit on one assignment.
Students press Check my work to see their own results. Their results come from their own browser, so for work that counts, press Grade it. It runs the same checks on your machine.
The Wall tab shows every student’s latest circuit. A card that has not changed in ten minutes asks "stuck?", so you know who to help first.
What to grade
The checks give you a clear number: how many passed out of the total. That makes a fair base for a grade. It does not show how a student got there.
For that, press Changes on a hand-in. It lists what the student changed from your starter, and it draws those changes on their circuit. You can see in one screen if they rebuilt the whole thing or fixed one wire.
Then press Send feedback to write back. A failed check goes into your note with one press, in the same words the student saw. The student reads your note on their class page.
One simple plan is to take most of the mark from the checks. Take the rest from a short write-up, such as a predicted value next to the measured one.
Get grades into your LMS
Download the Gradebook CSV from the class page. It has one row for each student and assignment. The columns are student, email, assignment, due, status, submitted, checks passed, checks total, score percent, graded by and feedback.
There is no direct LMS link (LTI) today. The CSV is how grades get into Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard or a spreadsheet. There is a Roster CSV too.
A first week, step by step
Before the first session, make one class for each section. Assign one short lab from the logic, microcontroller or circuits lab sets. Add its checks and press Try it on the starter.
In the session, read out the join code. Students join, open the lab and build it. They press Check my work as they go. You watch the Wall tab and help the "stuck?" cards first.
After the due date, press Grade it on each hand-in and send short feedback. Then download the Gradebook CSV. Each later week follows the same pattern with a new lab.
Common mistakes when you set up a class
Grading from the student’s own run. Check my work runs in the student’s browser, so treat it as practice. Press Grade it for work that counts. The graded by column says whose run each score came from.
Grading too early. When a student submits again, the new work replaces the old. A score from Grade it is cleared, so it can be graded again. Your feedback note stays.
Expecting the due date to close the work. It does not, and late work still comes in. The CSV puts due and submitted side by side, in your time zone, so late work is easy to spot.
What it costs
The simulator is free, with every board and every part. Your students can use it without paying.
The class tools come with Pro and the Teacher plan. Pro holds ten students across your classes. The Teacher plan is $129 a year or $14 a month for you and forty students.
Try it first with the free 30-day trial. It covers one class of up to forty students, with no card. For a department or a large course, a school plan is priced by the number of students and quoted for you.
Where it does not fit
There is no VHDL, Verilog or FPGA, and no PCB layout. Checks measure the simulation, with ideal timing and no noise. And it does not replace a real bench. Many instructors use it to design and test first, then build a few circuits for real.
Questions
Is it a Tinkercad alternative for university classes?
For many classes, yes. It has 74HC chips, several boards beyond the Uno, a scope, SPICE netlists, a debugger and checks that grade work. Tinkercad Circuits is still simpler for young students who need blocks.
Can students outside the US use it?
Yes. It runs in any modern browser. The language menu opens every page in Spanish and other languages through Google Translate. The pricing page shows a lower regional price in some countries.
Do students pay anything?
No. The free plan is the whole simulator. Students in a class on the Teacher plan also get Pro’s room, such as unlimited projects, while they are in it.
Can I see the teacher dashboard before I sign up?
Yes. The demo class at /class/demo opens without an account. It has a made-up roster, and it shows the real dashboard.
Keep going
Build this for real
Open the editor, change a value and watch the number move with it. Nothing to install, and no account needed.