Work in Progress - A New Time-sharing Remote Laboratory e-Learning System for Hardware Design and Experiment of Digital Circuits

A new distance learning system, integrating a top-down design support system and a multi-user/multi-test-bed remote laboratory system for digital circuit hardware design and implementation course, is realized. The proposed system employs the hardware description language (VerilogHDL) for the design database and FPGAs for design implementation test-beds. Students using this remote laboratory system at remote sites can perform actual hardware experiments in parallel. It realized a remote multi-user time-sharing hardware experiment system. It has achieved seamless remotes and actual hardware laboratories, which resolve conflicts among users, when many users request the same services at the same time. The top-down design support system guides students to complete projects. The course material database is organized in the form of a design-module-cell hierarchy tree, where each design-module-cell contains a sample circuit design, described in VerilogHDL. The use of XNIL wrapped VerilogHDL descriptions and specially extended XNIL vocabularies contributed to share designed modules among students and teachers as well across the Internet via the Web. The prototype of the distance learning system, integrating both the digital circuit design support system using top-down approach and the multi-user remote laboratory system for running experiment of digital circuit, has been developed. It has achieved an effective and efficient distance learning system.

Laboratory courses play a pivotal role in higher education, and with emerging technologies transforming instructional practices, virtual laboratories have become an effective supplement to traditional, face-to-face settings. This paper presents a Unity3D-based virtual production line laboratory platform developed under the ADDIE instructional design model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation). The physical assembly line was replicated in a virtual environment and deployed via WebGL on a custom website, enabling students to engage in experimental learning at any time.Additionally,On the student client, we have visualised PLC programs and designed an image recognition module that enables students to visually verify the correctness of their PLC programs. Implementation with second-year undergraduates demonstrated positive impacts on academic performance.

This paper describes a practical case study on the benefits and feasibility of a virtual laboratory as a part of chemistry laboratory exercises. Three different objectives that must fit together to create an efficient Virtual Reality (VR) learning experience were found: relevant information content, learning design, and technical feasibility. To achieve these multidisciplinary goals, a simple framework for designing VR learning materials was created. A 360-VR version of a chemistry laboratory exercise was designed and created following this framework. Data on its effectiveness was collected on a laboratory course with over 150 first-year chemical engineering students. The students completed the same laboratory exercise both as a virtual laboratory and in a real student laboratory. In the student feedback, students clearly stated that virtual laboratories cannot replace the experience in a real laboratory, and that the virtual laboratory exercises did not directly increase student motivation. Nevertheless, students showed a very positive attitude towards virtual learning materials and suggested including even more activating materials such as quizzes and interactive videos in the learning materials. Only a few students reported any downsides related to the virtual laboratory exercise. Overall, it was shown that our design principles work in practice as the students reported several real benefits when they completed a virtual laboratory exercise before the real-life laboratory exercise. These benefits included learning the correct way that the laboratory exercise proceeds and how to perform certain tasks correctly.

The rapid transition to remote teaching in the spring of 2020 posed particular challenges for laboratory courses, which often involve students working hands-on with equipment in collaborative environments. Replicating in-person experiments was especially challenging for advanced lab courses that utilize specialized apparatus, which could not be accessed by students at home. However, physics lab instructors employed a variety of creative strategies to overcome these barriers and provide students access to lab-like learning in a remote setting. We report on one advanced lab course that used the transition to remote teaching to completely redefine the course goals and transition from traditional prescriptive labs to more open-ended projects. We conduct a case study analysis, triangulating among several data sources-survey responses and interviews from both instructor and students-to construct an in-depth understanding of the remote course and how students experienced it. Although we cannot necessarily generalize the results of this analysis to the entire student experience in the course due to the student response rate, the feedback that the course did receive from both students and the instructor was overwhelmingly positive, and the instructors are planning to retain the open-ended projects when the course returns to an in-person format. We find that the new open-ended projects afforded students opportunities to make decisions and think deeply about their experiments, which students report as contributing to their enjoyment and satisfaction with the course. Students had mixed group work experiences, with some describing positive and meaningful interactions and others describing group work as a source of frustration and stress. Additionally, some students missed being able to work hands-on with equipment, and some reported a high workload that made the course stressful. We discuss these student experiences and provide implications for both in-person and remote lab courses.

For enhanced education at the level of University courses such as those in biology or biotechnology, one of the key elements is the need of time and expertise to allow the student to familiarize laboratory techniques in par with regular theory. The Sakshat Amrita virtual biotechnology lab project focusing on virtualizing wet-lab techniques and integrating the learning experience has added a new dimension to the regular teaching courses at the University. Establishing virtual labs requires both domain knowledge and virtualizing skills via programming, animation and device-based feedback. Challenges in the biotechnology sector in setting up a laboratory that integrates both the feel and phenomenon includes the medley of multiple techniques. This paper reports one such cost-effective process used in virtualizing a real biotechnology lab at the University-level. The major challenge in setting up an effective knowledge dissemination for laboratory courses was not only the scientific approach of biotechnology, but included the virtualization aspects such as usage/design scalability, deliverability efficiency, network connectivity issues, security and speed of adaptability to incorporate and update changes into existing experiments. This paper also discusses an issue-specific case-study of a functional virtual lab in biotechnology and its many issues and challenges.

This study is an implementation of information technology for education, aimed to produce a model of online lab course with a collaborative environment using a desktop sharing application. In the digital electronics lab course, participants were divided into the groups, each of them consists of three members. A desktop sharing application was used to the digital circuit simulator as an offline program that can be accessed online. The results show that the application can be used to introduce a collaborative environment in an online lab course. The application was possible to make an offline program such of a digital circuit simulator that can be accessed online by each member of the groups. This model has got a positive response from the participants of digital electronics lab course.

Emersion of Websites that enable users to easily participate in creation of their content moved individuals on a scale rarely seen before. Web 2.0 transformed the passive reader into an active user and millions of users were drawn into a community previously reserved for professionals only. Users became able to experiment with data, collaborate with other users, and add value to a community of users. A similar revolution is needed in the electrical engineering education. In this field, courses offer a significant amount of theory and generally an unstimulating content to the students. Remote laboratories (RLs) could, however, make a difference. Instead of being passive collectors of the theory, students could become active builders of their own knowledge. At this point, the design of such a laboratory becomes important. Without a detailed user-oriented design, RL could have a counterproductive effect, generating frustration instead of motivation. A team of researchers used the QFD method to translate multidimensional and interdependent user requirements into the RL design model-MIRACLE. The MIRACLE model is based on survey results, instructional design, and good e-learning practice, and as such this model brings satisfaction, raises effectiveness and motivation, and makes electrical engineering courses appealing to students.

Learning is a process that involves educators, students, teaching materials, learning resources, learning media, and methods. The conventional method, whose main source of knowledge is only from educators, is considered to be less effective if it is the only source of knowledge transfer to students. The boring learning process, the media used in Digital Electronics courses is a simulator, the features presented in the simulator are less interesting. So it was appointed a research study on the development of the IoT Remote Lab learning tool with Blended Learning Digital Electronics Subjects in accordance with the Industrial Revolution era 4.0. This study aims to determine the stages and feasibility of developing the IoT Remote Lab learning tool with a valid, practical, and effective Blended Learning method in the Department of Electronics Education Faculty of Engineering Universitas Negeri Makassar (FT-UNM). The research method used by Research and Development (R&D) with the 4D development model (1), (2) planning, (3) development, and (4) distribution. The results of this study indicate that the Remote Lab IoT learning tool with the Blended Learning method has a very valid category to use. Got a response from students who said it was very practical in its use and the results of student test scores after implementation had increased. It was concluded that the data stated that the Remote Lab IoT learning device with the Blended Learning method that had been developed was declared valid/feasible to use as well as practical and efficient in its use.

The manufacturing technique covers: turning, milling, drilling, holing etc. Much time and cost are used to teach these techniques. Particularly, computerized machines are continuously increasing in use. The development of educating engineers on computerized machines becomes much more difficult than with traditional machines. This is because of the limitation of the extremely expensive cost of teaching. The quality and quantity of teaching cannot always be promoted in this respect. The traditional teaching methods can not respond well to the needs of the future. Therefore, this research aims to the following topics; (1). Propose the teaching strategies for the students to learning machining processing planning through Web-based learning system. (2). Establish on-line teaching material for the computer-aided manufacturing courses including CNC coding method, CNC simulation. (3). Develop the virtual machining laboratory to bring the machining practical training to Web-based learning system. (4). Integrate multi-media and virtual laboratory in the developed e-learning web-based system to enhance the effectiveness of machining education through Web-based system.

In engineering education, concepts taught through lectures are often complemented by practical laboratory experimentation. Students can observe dynamic phenomena that are often difficult to explain by written material in laboratory environment. To offer the hands-on laboratory experience for distant users, virtual environment is necessary. In this paper, we reported and demonstrated an innovative remotely accessible virtual laboratory. Our approach is based on the newly developed software packages. Remote control, network reliability, and safety features are integrated into the experimental hardware and software design. Distance users are able to develop and run controllers on the experiments in the virtual laboratory, and can effectively use the laboratory from anywhere over internet.

The use of remote laboratories in courses at university level has been reported in literature numerous times since the mid 90â??s. In this article focus is on activities carried out by teachers and students, at the Upper Secondary School Level, using the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality). The Upper Secondary School, Katedralskolan in Lund, Sweden, cooperate with Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, in a project that concerns the introduction of remote laboratory environment suitable for Upper Secondary School science courses. A remote laboratory in electronics has been introduced and is used as a complement to the traditional workbench in the hands-on laboratory. Significant results from the project are; 1) the great interest shown by the students for the remote experiments, 2) the students appreciation for the fact that it was not simulations but actual real experiments, 3) the remote laboratory is easy to implement for use by both teachers and students and 4) it can be used simultaneously by many students.

Online hardware-based educational laboratories are increasingly being deployed in traditional on-campus as well as Web-based distance-learning courses around the world. An online laboratory generally will consist of several hardware-based remote experiments. However, one particular experiment can be performed at a time by an individual student or a group of students which require a careful scheduling of the experiments. For the proper implementation of an online laboratory an efficient laboratory management system (LMS) is thus essential. Also for an online laboratory, the students need to fully understand the experimental system setup and feel comfortable as in an actual laboratory environment which, however, can be effectively done by adding suitable videos and animations etc. Besides, the students should be able to run the remote experiments, extract, save and analyze the data and submit laboratory reports online. The front end of the laboratory management system should be made browser-based so that one can use the laboratory facility from anywhere. Also, for the teachers, the laboratory management system should include an online evaluation for the quiz/viva-voce, checking experimental data, grading of submitted laboratory reports and feedback for the students. In this paper, we describe the design and prototype implementation of an online laboratory management system (for use with shared hardware-based remote laboratory resources) which may be employed for running internet-based online laboratory courses for geographically dispersed Institutions.

Online hardware-based educational laboratories are increasingly being deployed in traditional on-campus as well as Web-based distance-learning courses around the world. An online laboratory generally will consist of several hardware-based remote experiments. However, one particular experiment can be performed at a time by an individual student or a group of students which require a careful scheduling of the experiments. For the proper implementation of an online laboratory an efficient laboratory management system (LMS) is thus essential. Also for an online laboratory, the students need to fully understand the experimental system setup and feel comfortable as in an actual laboratory environment which, however, can be effectively done by adding suitable videos and animations etc. Besides, the students should be able to run the remote experiments, extract, save and analyze the data and submit laboratory reports online. The front end of the laboratory management system should be made browser-based so that one can use the laboratory facility from anywhere. Also, for the teachers, the laboratory management system should include an online evaluation for the quiz/viva-voce, checking experimental data, grading of submitted laboratory reports and feedback for the students. 
 In this paper, we describe the design and prototype implementation of an online laboratory management system (for use with shared hardware-based remote laboratory resources) which may be employed for running internet-based online laboratory courses for geographically dispersed Institutions.

Now a day’s world is moving towards the digitalization. Most of the field are upgrade and improve their standard by using digital technology and digital devices. Now digital devices are mostly used and easily available[1]. So, mostly all fields are connected with the digitalization. It is also reaching in the education fields. Virtual lab is concept in which computerized learning is performed. In this paper, the computers or laptops are needed to connect Internet, using Internet learning, Text, image, audio, video format data is easily get on the internet. But practical data is not as much we get on internet. To improve the practical knowledge virtual lab is needed[3]. In this paper we design system that perform practical virtually using virtual laboratory. Virtual lab is used in UG, PG, Biotechnology, Engineering, Research field and also in other fields.

This article aims to determine the effect of a virtual chemistry laboratory on university student achievement. The article describes a model of a laboratory course that includes a virtual component. This virtual component is viewed as a tool of student pre-lab autonomous learning. It presents electronic resources designed for a virtual laboratory and outlines the methodology of e-resource application. To find out how virtual chemistry laboratory affects student scientific literacy, research skills and practices, a pedagogical experiment has been conducted. Student achievement was compared in two learning environments: traditional – in-class hands-on – learning (control group) and blended learning – online learning combined with in-person learning (experimental group). The effectiveness of integrating an e-lab in the laboratory study was measured by comparing student lab reports of the two groups. For that purpose, a set of 10 criteria was developed. The experimental and control student groups were also compared in terms of test results and student portfolios. The study showed that the adopted approach blending both virtual and hands-on learning environments has the potential to enhance student research skills and practices in analytical chemistry studies. Published: 4 December 2017 Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2017, 25 : 1968 - http://dx.doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v25.1968