Remote Labs in Cybersecurity Education

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in virtual practical labs is revolutionizing the education sector by providing immersive, adaptive, and cost-effective learning experiences. Virtual labs offer significant advantages, such as flexibility, scalability, and accessibility. This paper explores the current state of AI-driven virtual labs, their benefits, challenges, and future prospect, especially in the context of STEM education and research.We analyse AI applications in laboratory simulations, personalized learning, automated assessment, and real-time feedback. Virtual practical lab powered by AI – enhance Virtual Practical labs provide impressive, interactive ,and personalized learning experience, enabling students to conduct experiments in simulated environment that conduct mimic real- world scenarios .Furthermore, we discuss ethical considerations, technological advancements, and case studies of AI-based virtual labs in science, engineering, and medical education. It’s impact on modern education, and the challenges associated with the implementation. The research concludes with recommendations for optimizing AI in virtual practical labs for enhanced pedagogical outcomes.

Education in general and cybersecurity education in particular can be made more attractive by adding hands-on experience to classrooms. This requires new technology, such as virtualisation, to be developed fully geared towards the needs of educational purposes. Over the years, several techniques have been developed by the authors. In this paper, the authors first give a full account of their earlier work on a distributed virtual computer lab for cybersecurity education. Then, this virtual lab is extended with educational enhancements, such as an intelligent tutoring system, which resulted in a prototype for a virtual classroom for cybersecurity education.

Facilitating the Creation of Virtual and Remote Laboratories for Science and Engineering Education

Remote and Virtual Labs for Engineering Education 4.0: Achievements of the ELLI project at the TU Dortmund University

From Virtual Lab to Virtual Development Lab

In this paper, we present a virtual learning laboratory environment for undergraduate mathematics education using an inquiry-based learning approach. The Visible Thinking pedagogical framework is also suggested to achieve a good complement to traditional lecture–tutorial systems. The virtual laboratory is implemented in an open-access Java interactive software. We demonstrate a viable instruction procedure, providing a set of virtual laboratory activities with real-world applications spanning signal processing, data science and analytics, sustainable infrastructure engineering, and theoretical physics. A preliminary study on a pilot cohort indicates that the proposed virtual laboratory can enhance students’ learning. The virtual laboratory implementation is scalable and can be easily expanded in scope to other mathematical topics; transitioning to a tablet-based system for use in smart classrooms is also readily achieved. The Java interactive software is freely available on Open Science Framework.

A model for evaluating the effectiveness of remote engineering laboratories and simulations in education

هدفت الدراسة للتعرف على توجهات المعلمات نحو استخدام المعامل الافتراضية في التطبيق العملي لتجارب الكيمياء أثناء التعليم عن بعد في ظل جائحة كورونا، ومتطلبات استخدام المعامل الافتراضية، وصعوبات استخدامها، واتبعت الدراسة المنهج الوصفي، الاستبانة كأداة تم توزيعها على عينة عشوائية بلغت (29) معلمة كيمياء في المرحلة الثانوية في مدارس محافظة بيشة، وخرجت الدراسة بجملة من النتائج أبرزها: جاء المتوسط الحسابي لجميع عبارات مجال توجهات المعلمات نحو استخدام المعامل الافتراضية في التطبيق العملي لتجارب الكيمياء بقيمة 3.96 والوزن النسبي 79.14%، وهذا يعني أن هناك موافقة مرتفعة، وجاءت أبرز متطلبات استخدام المعامل الافتراضية في التطبيق العملي لتجارب الكيمياء في المهارات الحاسوبية، وامتلاك القدرة على استخدام برامج المحاكاة الافتراضية، وامتلاك القناعة بالفائدة العلمية للمعامل الافتراضية، وجاءت أبرز صعوبات استخدام المعامل الافتراضية في التطبيق العملي لتجارب الكيمياء متمثلة في ضعف مهارات الاتصال والعمل الجماعي بين الطالبات بالمعمل الافتراضي مقارنة بالمعلم التقليدي، ونقص التفاعل الحقيقي مع الأجهزة والأدوات والمعلمة والمواد، وضعف الأجهزة اللازمة لتمثيل الظواهر العلمية، كما أشارت النتائج إلى عدم وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية بين استجابات أفراد العينة تعزى للمتغيرات التالية (سنوات الخبرة، الدرجة العلمية، درجة المعرفة باستخدام الانترنت)، وفي ضوء النتائج السابقة أوصت الدراسة بعقد ندوات أو ورش عمل للمعملين لتوضيح أهمية المعامل الافتراضية ومزاياها في التعليم، وتوفير صيانة مستمرة لأجهزة الحاسوب في المدارس، وتوفير اتصال مستمر بشبكة الانترنت في المدارس.

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session 2258 “Lab@Home”: An Internet-Based Real Laboratory for Distance Control Education N. Sepehri , S. Onyshko, W. Lehn, R. Song , Z. Zheng The University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T-5V6 The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba completed the development of software drivers and interfacing programs to establish a prototype remote control laboratory station. The station, which can be operated from a distance, is called “Lab@Home” and is becoming a part of core control courses in the Faculty of Engineering. This paper presents the motivation behind this initiation as well as step-by-step development of the test station. Typical results obtained by students are also provided. 1. Introduction The motivation for the construction of this station comes from the fact that the control laboratories at the University of Manitoba are heavily utilized by as many as 200 students each year. At the present time, we are unable to provide the students enough exposure to the equipment due to the increased number of students as well as limited access time (e.g., the lab can not be open after 6:30 pm, a period in which students may have more time to do the experiments on their own time). Lab@Home will allow the students to work with the real system by remotely operating it at any time and from any places, therefore, increasing the exposure to the experimental facility. Compared to other valuable attempts to develop a virtual laboratory for control education, whereby the students deal with virtual (simulated) systems, via Internet, here we allow the students to run a real system remotely which is believed to be more effective. Lab@Home is an interactive setup in which the students can study PID control implementation and tuning issues for typical first- and second- order systems. The goal is to perform actual experiments and relate the findings to the theoretical analyses. The test station allows the students to perform a “do-and-see” approach anytime and from the comfort of their home and thus, they will not be restricted to certain laboratory access times. This gives the students a chance to redo the experiments many times, any time and from any remote computer system. In short, the remote laboratory allows more exposure of the students to an experimental test rig. “Proceedings of 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2002, American Society for Engineering Education“ Main Menu

Considering the alarming increase in cyberattacks and their potential financial implications, the importance of cybersecurity education and training cannot be overstated. This paper presents a systematic literature review that examines different cybersecurity education and training techniques with a focus on symmetry. It primarily focuses on traditional cybersecurity education techniques and emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), through the lens of symmetry. The main objective of this study is to explore the existing cybersecurity training techniques, identify the challenges involved, and assess the effectiveness of cybersecurity training based on VR and AR while emphasizing the concept of symmetry. Through careful selection criteria, 66 primary studies were selected from a total of 150 pertinent research studies. This article offers valuable insights into the pros and cons of conventional training approaches, explores the use of VR and AR in cybersecurity education concerning symmetry, and thoroughly discusses the challenges associated with these technologies. The findings of this review contribute significantly to the continuing efforts in cybersecurity education by offering recommendations for improving employees’ knowledge, engagement, and motivation in cybersecurity training programs while maintaining symmetry in the learning process.

Cost efficiency is an often mentioned strength of cloud computing. In times of decreasing educational budgets virtual labs provided by cloud computing might be therefore an int eresting option for higher education organizations or IT training facilit ies. An analysed use case of a web technology lecture and a corresponding practical course of a co mputer science study programme shows that is not possible to answer the question in general whether cloud computing approaches are economical or not. The general implication of this finding for h igher education is, that the application of cloud computing can be only answered fro m a course specific point of view. This contribution shows why. But also how universities, colleges or other IT training facilit ies can make pro found and course specific decisions for or against cloud based virtual labs from an economic point of view. The presented approach is inspired by Weinmans mathematical proof of the inevitability of cloud co mputing. The key idea is to co mpare peak to average usage of virtual labs and relate this ratio to costs of classical dedicated labs . The rat io of peak and average usage indicates whether a use case (fro m a pure economical point of view) is cloud compatible or not. This contribution derives also some findings when cloud computing in h igher education has economical advantages or disadvantages. Regarding the analysed use case it turned out that virtual labs are able to provide a more than 25 times cost advantage compared to classical dedicated approaches . Virtual labs can be applied frict ionless to classical as well as distance study programmes and virtual labs provide a convenient infrastructure for project as well as problem based learning in co mputer science. Nevertheless provider of virtual labs should always consider usage and resulting cost characteristics. This article shows how to do this.

Several researchers report that practical experimentation arouses a strong interest among students in Chemistry learning. Also, the classes held in didactic laboratories enhance the learning ability of the students, because they help the understanding of the subject matter. There are also reports stating that students feel more motivated to learn Chemistry when they make use of practical and dynamic classes. However, the availability of laboratories to carry out practical activities is difficult to found in different levels of education in several countries. This paper assumes that the expansion of resources to increase the experimental practice of Chemistry can be achieved by developing virtual laboratories in a way of helping them to get involved in active learning. In this work a virtual laboratory, called VirtuaLabQ, with predefined experiments about Chemical Transformations is introduced. Also, a case study that shows the use of VirtuaLabQ integrated to hands-on laboratory is presented. The case study was performed with Engineering undergraduate students that attend the Chemical Transformation course. The main target of this study was to investigate if practicing the experiments previously in VirtuaLabQ improves the students' performance in experiments accomplished in a hands-on chemistry laboratory. Two sets of laboratory experiments were conducted, in wich students first performed online activities in VirtuaLabQ and after in the hands-on laboratory, during regular class time. Also, students answered questionnaires evaluating the performance of each experiment in virtual and hands-on laboratory. Four questions were chosen to be analyzed in order to check the main target of this work. Results indicate that the integration of virtual and hands-on experiments in a Chemistry undergraduate course assists in the good performance of students in a hands-on laboratory and can contribute to the improvement of student learning. However, improvements in VirtuaLabQ and new case studies are necessary to confirm these findings, considering, for example, other kind of evaluations that effectively compare student performance besides self-evaluation.

A virtual laboratory is a simulated environment that enables users to conduct various experiments anytime and anywhere without the need for a physical laboratory. Its main goal is to identify trends (such as publication year, education level, publication journal, keywords used, and academic disciplines) and map the platforms and affective domains related to virtual laboratories in science education. This systematic review utilizes 41 articles found in the scopus database from 2013 to 2023 using pre-determined criteria. The method applied is a systematic literature review following PRISMA guidelines. The results show that publication trends have fluctuated over time, with a significant increase in the last four years. Most studies were conducted at the higher education level, with the journal of chemical education being the most dominant publication outlet. Chemistry emerged as the most frequently explored discipline, and "virtual laboratory" appeared as a commonly used keyword. Various virtual laboratory platforms were employed in these studies, and most of the reported affective domains related to positive attitudes towards the learning process

An educational remote laboratory is a software and hardware tool that allows students to remotely access real equipment located in universities or educational centers. Federations of remote laboratories have existed for years: students of one university transparently access laboratories of other university through software systems that enable these contracts. However, traditionally these contracts have been defined in a "one to one" basis and both universities using the same remote laboratory management system. The focus of this contribution is to present different interoperable bridges among different remote laboratory systems and explore how they can be chained to build complex ecosystems of remote laboratories. The impact of this chaining is that, if successful, it would definitely contribute to the adoption of remote laboratories.

The interest on educational remote laboratories has increased, as have the technologies involved in their development and deployment. These laboratories enable students to use real equipment located in the university from the Internet. This way, students can extend their personal learning experience by testing with real equipment what they are studying at home, or performing hands-on-lab sessions at night, on weekends or whenever the traditional laboratories are physically closed. A unique feature of remote laboratories when compared to traditional laboratories is that the distance of the student is not an issue, so remote laboratories can be shared with other schools or universities. In this contribution, authors present and discuss a widely spread remote laboratory (VISIR, present in 6 european universities + 1 in India) shared among 3 institutions (2 universities + 1 high school). During the exhibition, demonstration of the laboratories being shared will be shown.