Physics practicals for distance education in an undergraduate engineering course

BACKGROUND : Providing engineering practicals to undergraduates by means of distance education is a significant challenge. The past 30 years have seen the rapid development of the distance education. For many years, Deakin University has offered a full Bachelor of Engineering degree programme via distance education. All first-year students study a unit in physics. This unit includes practicals. Providing practical experiences to students is distance education’s greatest challenge.PURPOSE : The purpose of this work was to develop the means for off-campus students to complete practical exercises in first-year engineering physics. The solution to the problem also had to comply with accreditation requirements set by Engineers Australia.METHOD : The long-term solution to the problem was running on-campus lab classes either on weekends or as part of the annual first-year residential school for engineering professional practice. Students work was assessed by means of standard laboratory reports. On-campus marks and off-campus lab marks have been collected and compared over the past 12 years.RESULTS : The results indicate that the off-campus lab experience is similar to the on-campus experience. Marks for the two cohorts were comparable. Those few students who completed their pracs at home faced and overcame significant challenges.CONCLUSIONS : We found that performance in their lab reports for off-campus students was similar to that of the on-campus students. Accreditation requirements has shifted the focus from developing activities that students could perform at home to offering timely and efficient on-campus lab classes for off-campus students. Future work will focus on on-campus lab classes in accordance with accreditation requirements and perhaps on-line broadcasts of prac classes for those students who cannot attend lab on-campus

Interoperability of Remote Laboratories Systems

There has been growing interest in, and development of, remotely accessible laboratories as a mechanism for improving access and flexibility, and enabling sharing of facilities. Differences in focus, philosophy, approach or domain have led to quite different technical solutions in supporting remote laboratories. Whilst this diversity represents a significant strength in terms of the ability to explore different issues and support diverse applications, it does however potentially hamper the sharing of labs between different institutions. Investigation into interoperability between two remote lab platforms has realized a need for a common application protocol to achieve the goals remote labs aims to provide. We describe our approach to providing a bridge between two current remote laboratory architectures Labshares Sahara and MITs iLabs and report on the issues that arise with regard to the protocol translations

Derivation of Suitability Metrics for Remote Access Mode Experiments

When considering the possible use of an online mode of experimentation it is important to evaluate the suitability of the remote access mode to a particular learning exercise. Within a large and diverse set of possible experiment-oriented learning exercises, it follows that not all laboratory experiments are well-suited for conversion to the remote access mode. In this paper we consider a range of factors that should be considered before the decision is taken to implement a remote laboratory. These factors fit broadly into four categories: learning factors, equipment factors, cohort factors and accreditation factors. Some of the factors may demonstrate a tendency to belong to more than one category, and some may present with a more significant weighting than others, but the categorical organization of the factors adds an ability to apply an objective assessment to remote access mode suitability

International collaborative learning using remote workbenches for 8-bit microcontroller courses

Although many remote laboratory prototypes have been described in the literature during the past fifteen years, there is still a remarkable lack of integration with e-learning frameworks. Most of the proposed solutions do not go beyond technical aspects, which were important to overcome the initial technical difficulties created by high communication latencies, firewall problems, etc. The work presented in this paper balances technical and pedagogical concerns, and proposes an international collaborative framework based on remote workbenches supporting 8-bit microcontroller courses, that are currently available to students in Portugal and South Australia

Development of Platform Independent Remote Experiments

Remote laboratory or online laboratory is the use of the Internet to conduct real experiments remotely when the client is geographically away from the real experiments. Current remote laboratories such as the remote laboratory in Mechanical Engineering at University of Houston require the client to install plug-ins before conducting remote experiments. This thesis presents an advanced technology using JavaScript and Socket.IO to develop plug-in free remote experiments without firewall issue. A scalable plug-in free remote laboratory integrated with two remote experiments has been set up in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) in Qatar under the collaboration from the University of Houston and the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. The plug-free remote laboratory has been successfully tested in Windows PC, Mac OS, iPhone and iPad (iOS).Mechanical Engineering, Department o

RELLE: Sistema de Gerenciamento de Experimentos Remotos

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Araranguá. Bacharelado em Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação.Este trabalho trata do desenvolvimento de um sistema de gerenciamento de experimentos remotos, utilizando uma arquitetura baseada em módulos de hardware e software capazes de oferecer a usuários acesso remoto à laboratórios em diversas áreas do conhecimento. A solução foi concebida utilizando uma arquitetura baseada em soluções open source e de baixo custo, e que podem ser utilizados em diferentes níveis de ensino. A arquitetura é baseada em quatro módulos: o Laboratório Real, que trata dos experimentos, Computador Embarcado, que compreende a parte de disponibilização do experimento na rede, RELLE, que é o sistema de gerenciamento, e Cliente, que trata do modelo de acesso utilizado para manipulação dos experimentos. O trabalho foi desenvolvido em três fases nomeadas Planejamento, Protótipo, e Validação, baseadas no método Merise, que é uma metodologia que aborda todas as fases do desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação. O cliente para comunicação com os experimentos foi desenvolvido utilizando o framework PHP Laravel junto ao framework CSS Bootstrap. No desenvolvimento do cliente foi utilizada a metodologia ágil para desenvolvimento de software Scrum. O cliente pode ser acessado através de dispositivos móveis ou convencionais, e tem funções de gerenciamento de usuários e experimentos, além de integração com o ambiente virtual de aprendizagem Moodle, que fornece suporte documental e didático aos experimentos. O ambiente foi avaliado por especialistas da área de educação e tecnologias e experimentação remota, e foi aplicado em turmas experimentais no ensino básico e superior.This work approaches the development of a remote labs management system using an architecture based on hardware and software modules, capable of offering users remote access to laboratories in various fields of knowledge. The solution was designed using an architecture based on open source and cost effective solutions, and can be used at different levels of education. The architecture is based on four modules: the Laboratory, referring to the experiments, Embedded Computer, providing the lab access through the internet, RELLE, which is the management system, and Client, about the access model used for the manipulation of experiments. The study was conducted in three phases named planning, prototype, and validation, based on Merise method, which is a methodology that addresses all phases of the development of information systems. The client for communication with the experiments was developed using the PHP framework Laravel and the CSS framework Bootstrap. It was used Scrum agile methodology on the client development. The client can be accessed through mobile or conventional devices, and has user management functions and experiments, as well as integration with the virtual learning environment Moodle, which provides documentary and educational support to the labs. The environment was evaluated by experts from the field of technology in education and remote experimentation, and was applied in experimental classes in primary, secondary and higher education

Evolving remote laboratory architectures to leverage emerging internet technologies

There is growing research into, and development of, the use of the internet to support remote access by students to physical laboratory infrastructure. These remote laboratories can, under appropriate circumstances, support or even replace traditional (proximal) laboratories, provide additional or improved access at reduced cost, and encourage interinstitutional sharing of expensive resources. Effective design of remote laboratories requires attention to the design of both the pedagogy and the technical infrastructure, as well as how these elements interact. In this paper, we consider the architectures of remote laboratories, the shortcomings of existing implementations, and we argue that emerging internet technologies can assist in overcoming these shortcomings. We also consider the opportunities which these technologies provide in moving beyond both existing remote laboratories and existing proximal laboratories, to create opportunities which were not previously possible

Evolving remote laboratory architectures to leverage emerging internet technologies

There is growing research into, and development of, the use of the internet to support remote access by students to physical laboratory infrastructure. These remote laboratories can, under appropriate circumstances, support or even replace traditional (proximal) laboratories, provide additional or improved access at reduced cost, and encourage interinstitutional sharing of expensive resources. Effective design of remote laboratories requires attention to the design of both the pedagogy and the technical infrastructure, as well as how these elements interact. In this paper, we consider the architectures of remote laboratories, the shortcomings of existing implementations, and we argue that emerging internet technologies can assist in overcoming these shortcomings. We also consider the opportunities which these technologies provide in moving beyond both existing remote laboratories and existing proximal laboratories, to create opportunities which were not previously possible

Identification, Characterisation and Prioritisation of Student Interactions in Face-to-Face and Remotely-operated Engineering Laboratories

There are various modes of conducting laboratory activities in university-level engineering education. The present study focuses upon those which involve students' operation of real physical equipment in their conduct of laboratory activity, that is, face-to-face and remotely-operated laboratories. This study first identifies and characterises student interactions that underpin laboratory learning in both face-to-face and remotely-operated laboratories and then prioritises such interactions to make recommendations for transfer from face-to-face to create effective remotely-operated laboratories

Developing a Framework and Pedagogies for the Delivery of Remote Accessible Laboratory Systems in Science and Engineering

The teaching and learning methods applied to the in-person classroom are not entirely capable of addressing the requirements for an online laboratory environment. The aim of the study is to create the pedagogies for remote laboratories. Therefore, a test environment was developed and user observations were captured over four years. This research proposed an educational framework for online science and engineering laboratory and summarized the most significant aspects to be included in the laboratory design