The emergence of remote laboratory courses in an emergency situation: University instructors' agency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study examines and describes how various online remote laboratory courses, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, were implemented at Hankuk University in Korea in 2020. We compared four general undergraduate laboratory courses, one each for physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science, and two major-level laboratory courses taught during the spring and fall of 2020. Employing a sociocultural perspective, we examined how the changes in structures at the macro-, meso-, and micro-levels shaped the responses of educational authorities and impacted the agency of university instructors. Instructors implemented various remote laboratory courses in each content area dependent upon availability and access to material resources, including access to video of laboratory activities, and also based on the nature of experimental data associated with each content area. Drawing from survey responses and in-depth interviews with instructors and students, we share findings about how instructor practices impacted the interactions of students, the processes for evaluation, and student learning. We discuss how the global pandemic has re-ignited the debate about the role and value of experimental laboratory activities for undergraduate science majors and about the significance of hands-on versus minds-on science learning. Implications for how universities approach laboratory coursework in the post-COVID-19 are discussed, and questions for university science instruction are raised for future research.

NARRATIVE REVIEW ON USING REMOTE LABORATORIES FOR TEACHING-LEARNING OF STUDENTS WITH AUTIST SPECTRUM DISORDER UNDER THE LIGHT OF THE TRANSACTIONAL DISTANCE THEORY

In the current COVID-19 pandemic phase, almost all educational institutions were forced to undergo an abrupt transformation from face-to-face to remote learning, generally based on the adoption and use of new educational technologies. Specifically, in the context of students with autism, it is understood as pertinent to analyze studies related to the possibilities of these technologies to improve the conceptual understanding of these students. In this context, this paper aims to raise, analyze, and discuss practices on using remote laboratories and their impact on the learning of autistic students, considering the Transactional Distance Theory. For this purpose, a literature narrative review was carried out. Thirty-two articles from the Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, Wiley InterScience, and Science Direct–Elsevier databases were analyzed. As a result, it was showed that, in the context of Transactional Theory, remote laboratories tend to enhance the effectiveness of teaching methods and improvements in learning for students with autistic spectrum disorder. © 2023 UNIVERSIDADE FEEVALEÂ. All rights reserved.

Remote Laboratory for Learning on Automation of Systems and Control Process with Easy Access and Low-Cost

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected many public and private institutions including universities which have suspended on-campus activities. This situation has encouraged universities to digitalize their laboratories practices since they are essential for students to complement theoretical knowledge. This paper describes the implementation of a remote laboratory for learning automation systems and operational process control from anywhere in the world. It is based on a client-server architecture and includes a module, a computer server, and a camera. This laboratory allows students to control and supervise the process of transport, selection, handling, and storage of metal and plastic objects. It is implemented with different security systems to avoid malfunctions. Also, it has an electrical and mechanical protection independent of the control system of the students to avoid damages to its moving components. This remote laboratory was developed at the Pedro Paulet Institute for Astronomical and Aerospace Research (IAAPP) to be used in the Control & Instrumentation Laboratory of the National University of San Augustin of Arequipa (UNSA). © 2022 IEEE.

Student Perspectives on Remote Hardware Labs and Equitable Access in a Post-Pandemic Era

This Research Full Paper builds on a prior study that compared overall student performance between in-hand versus remotely accessible hardware in digital design courses. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a global educational shift to emergency online learning that led to rethinking the delivery of engineering labs. The prior study showed that, amidst pandemic-necessitated online learning, student understanding was not impeded by the incorporation of remotely accessible hardware into the course curriculum;rather, using remote hardware resulted in similar or better learning outcomes. In this paper, we analyze the remotely accessible hardware lab through the lens of equity, investigating the student perspective on equitable access and the remote lab experience. The study accomplishes this goal by surveying students of a junior-level digital design course who use a remotely accessible hardware lab for completing their assignments. The survey aims to determine the factors deemed important by today's learners - those who have experienced remote learning for approximately two years of their educational careers - when considering equitable access and remote labs. Survey questions utilized the multiple-choice, semantic differential scale, and Likert scale formats for quantitative analysis as well as inductive coding of freeform responses for qualitative analysis. Initial findings from the survey are the key considerations of the surveyed students which include Factors of the Remote Experience (FREs) and Factors of Equitable Access (FEAs). FREs and FEAs specifically relate to the Student's Access to Electronic Devices, the Student's Environment Outside of Class, the Student's Schedule, the Student's Internet Quality, the lab's Learnability, the lab's Web Interface Design, the lab's Convenience, the lab's Overall Positive Experience, the lab's Ease of Use, the lab's Internet Quality, and the lab's Affordability. Rooted in the online learner's experience, these results contribute to an improved understanding of how students perceive equitable access to engineering education which shall guide better-informed advancements in the field in a post-pandemic world. © 2022 IEEE.

Low-Cost Remote Laboratory for Robotics Undergraduate Learning during Covid Context

The article proposes to develop, and implement a low-cost, open-source robotics' remote laboratory, to improve online, and hybrid STE learning experience facing COVID-19 context. Electronic modules were developed using digital fabrication, and a Raspberry Pi 4 as a core. Enabling students to connect by a remote access via a VNC port, and control robot elements to complement theoretical content controlling sensors, and actuators using Python scripts. The project was implemented in two iterations, fitting data security, and network accessibility requirements. Those features, in comparison to other state-of-the-art proposals developed outside of South America, highlight our proposal as a low-cost, and open-source alternative suitable to replicate in different resource-constraints context, and to other advanced STE courses. © 2022 IEEE.

Platform for hands-on remote labs based on the ESP32 and NOD-red.

Not only in Morocco, throughout the walks of the world covid 19 pandemics has seriously questioned policymakers from different sectors. Think-tank in the educational sector notably higher education addressed by such a wide range of challenges brought about by covid 19. The characteristic concern that educationalists in Moroccan universities have to reconsider in this pandemic period should not be beyond rethinking new pedagogical alternatives including approaches, methods, techniques and didactic materials which can successfully assist practioners of the teaching and learning process to keep up with the current alterations. Practical work (PW) is an indispensable type of teaching in scientific and technical training and meets a real complementary need through real, remote or virtual laboratories. Students can consolidate what they have learnt and develop analytical skills by comparing experimental results with those obtained during the manipulation. In this context, the Laboratory of Engineering Sciences and Energy Management (LASIME) at the Superior School of Technology of Agadir has developed a low-cost platform called LABERSIME installed in the cloud (LMS, IDE) and equipped with an embedded system to drive real laboratory equipment and perform experiments qualitatively more efficient than those in face-to-face mode. The ultimate goal is to stimulate self-learning motivation in students through a creative approach.

The Telepresence Laboratory for a New Campus Life Since the Covid-19 Crisis

The Covid-19 crisis transformed students' campus lives into a new normal. With telemeeting applications, the regular face-to-face lectures are being converted into online lectures. However, the conventional online/offline simulation and remote laboratory cannot provide a real experience of laboratory apparatus and investigations, including cooperative learning. Therefore, the telepresence laboratory is established and utilized for the 2103-360 Mechanical Engineering evaluation and Laboratory II class, which was fabricated for third-year undergraduate mechanical engineering students. To satisfy seven outcomes, students must examine the accuracy, repeatability, and resolution of an IGUS Drylin linear motion system in this lab. The lab, with a telepresence laboratory, is conducted 10 times in a semester where there are two groups of 4-5 students participating in Lab A at a time. Based on the students' findings of the analysis, it can be concluded that the telepresence laboratory can provide all learning outcomes to students. Also, regarding the investigation, more than 86% of students agreed that the lab assisted them in defining issues, designing experiments, conducting experiments, analyzing, concluding, and reporting skills. More than 77% of students agreed that they learned about the equipment from the lab. Also, 89% of students are satisfied with the lab, and 91% of students would recommend other students to take the telepresence laboratory. In conclusion, the telepresence laboratory can be employed in place of the regular face-to-face lab. It succeeds in promoting collaborative learning, where students discuss and work together to complete a task. The investigations are designed with a real-time web interface. Students can utilize their mobile devices to access and control the equipment. This practice complies with the new normal.

Converting a Biomedical Instrumentation Lab From In-person to Online

Many laboratories were converted to an online format to support students unable to attend instructional laboratories in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. During conversion of a biomedical instrumentation laboratory at a large public research university, our goal was to maintain the lab learning objectives and as much interaction with physical circuits and equipment as possible for students participating either at home or in the traditional on-campus laboratory space. This innovative practice work-in-progress paper describes the process used to convert each laboratory experiment and observations of instructional staff throughout the spring 2021 semester.

Industrial Automation Home-Lab (IAH-Lab) for Teaching/Learning During Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to temporary disruptions to face-to-face teaching/learning at universities and other institutions, and a general shift to online or hybrid education and training. In this paper, the authors propose a new pedagogic methodology for teaching and learning based on a remote industrial automation laboratory located in the teacher’s house, to which it was given the acronym IAH-Lab. The main contributions are the proposed remote teaching/learning methodology, the architectures, and new remote setup (IAH-Lab) mounted for this purpose. Simulations and experimental results elucidate the potential and performance of the proposed remote laboratory (IAH-Lab). © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Remote or Virtual Laboratory for HIL (Hardware-In-the-Loop) Testing Education

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the education has to be undertaken virtually on digital platforms in Hungary and many other countries. This presented new challenges to our department at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Our education and primary its laboratory part was very hardware focused. This paper introduces our solution for educating model based embedded system development and HIL (Hardware-In-the-Loop) testing in a remote or virtual laboratory environment. The laboratory uses a racing car simulator as a platform. Using the measurements data gathered from the racing car simulator the students can create their own control algorithms (like speed controller, or automated steering) and modify the behavior of the car. The laboratory can be configured to a virtual setup, where just simulations, and models are used, or it also can be configured to a remote setup, where real hardware-s is used through a VNC interface based virtual desktop access. © 2022 IEEE.

Design of Wireless Sensor Network Programming Tutorial Module (WSNmesh32)

The use of Internet of Things technology may have a significant impact on changes in online learning systems in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learners need a laboratory to use and master the necessary tools or components. However, this is difficult to do in a pandemic situation. The use of remote laboratories can overcome the limitations of practicum media, which is an obstacle for students in learning. This research discusses the creation of WSNMesh32 programming tutorial modules as microcontrollers using Wi-Fi-mesh network topology that can be used in Sensor and Microcontroller Practicum courses. This research aims to find out the feasibility and perception of learners towards the WSNMesh32 Programming Tutorial Module as a learning medium in pandemic times. The method used is a quantitative method with the ADDIE model (Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluation). Participants consisted of 31 students of the Electrical Engineering Education study program of the Industrial Electronics division 2018. The study was conducted online in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation. The feasibility test of the module is carried out by leading discussions and reviews with experts on the material to be presented. Respondents gave a positive response to the module. The results provide the conclusion that the sensor programming tutorial module that has been produced is suitable for use as a tutorial module in sensor and microcontroller practicum courses and can be used in learning in a pandemic situation © 2021 IEEE.

Remote Laboratory Offered as Hardware-as-a-Service Infrastructure

This paper presents a solution for remote classes where hardware is offered as a service. The infrastructure was based on Raspberry Pi mini computers to which a set of different developments boards were connected. The proposed software architecture allows students to connect to remote resources and interact with them. Moreover, the services monitoring status of remote resources were introduced to facilitate software development and the learning process. Furthermore, live video feedback is available to visually monitor operation of the resources. Finally, a debugging server was deployed allowing us to establish a remote debugging session between a user’s PC and the dev board on the server premises. The solution offers a comprehensive remote service including user management. Safety risks of the Internet-exposed infrastructure and safety precautions were discussed. The presented RemoteLab system allows students of WUST to gain knowledge, practise and realize exercises in scope of academic courses such as robot controllers and advanced robot control. Thanks to advances in remote education and utilized tools, the RemoteLab was designed and deployed, allowing stationary classes to be substituted with remote ones, while maintaining a high level of class knowledge transfer. Up to the present, the system has been utilized by over 100 students who could realize exercises and prepare for classes thanks to 24 h system availability.

RaspyLab: A Low-Cost Remote Laboratory to Learn Programming and Physical Computing Through Python and Raspberry Pi

This article describes the development and assessment of RaspyLab which is a low-cost Remote Laboratory (RL) to learn and teach programming with Raspberry Pi and Python language. The RL is composed of 16 stations or nodes that contain hardware components such as display LCD, robotic arm, temperature sensor, among others, and two modes of programming (graphical and text-based) for the students to experiment with their designed algorithms. The concept of the RL was conceived as a pedagogical tool to support the students of Engineering and Computer Science (CS) in an online learning format, given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The laboratory has been used by ([Formula Omitted]) CS students during the second semester of 2020 in the subject of mathematical logic through the methodology of Problem-Based Learning (PBL). To evaluate preliminary the laboratory, it was used a survey with 3 open-ended questions and 12 closed-ended questions on a Likert scale according to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The outcomes show a good reception of the laboratory, an enhancement of the students’ learning regarding the concepts addressed in the course, and an interest of the students for the laboratory to be included in other subjects of the curricula.

CRISPR in Your Kitchen: an At-Home CRISPR Kit to Edit Genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Used during a Remote Lab Course.

The use of CRISPR-based experiments in an undergraduate course is appealing because of the ease of editing, and the relevance of CRISPR to current research. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed an in-person lab for a high-enrollment course that allowed students to design and conduct CRISPR editing experiments in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Post pandemic, the lab course moved online, and we lost the hands-on component. We subsequently developed an at-home kit that contained all the necessary materials for students to grow and transform S. cerevisiae with the DNA molecules necessary for CRISPR-Cas9 induced editing. Our at-home kits cost approximately $70 each to produce and were shipped to over 600 students during the 2020 to 2021 academic year. By adding the at-home experimental work to our remote, online lab course, students were able to generate loss-of-function mutants in ADE2 (causing a red color phenotype). Students were able to send edited yeast samples back to campus for sequencing, allowing for characterization of the different mutations that can occur due to CRISPR-Cas9 induced editing. Here, we described the protocol to produce and use the kits and summarized the student experience of using the at-home kit in a large enrollment, remote lab course. These kits provided opportunities to engage students in hands-on experimentation during a remote course and could also be used to reach learners in other domains, such as high schools and outreach programs.

Learning Management Systems as a Platform for Deployment of Remote and Virtual Laboratory Environments

The constant development in ICT has not omitted the field of learning activities, digitalizing the concept of learning and making it more effective. This became even more obvious during the Covid-19 Pandemic when all educational activities were forced to be transferred remotely and online, with the help of existing Learning Management Systems. Motivated by this, the paper focuses on reviewing different LMSs and comparing their capabilities towards implementation of remote and virtual laboratories, providing analytical and empirical investigations. The goal is to assess the possibility of implementation and deployment of remote access, firstly to some existing on-campus laboratories hosting lab exercises based on real hardware;and secondly to virtual software platforms also usually available in the laboratories. Using such a set up enables the students to get the look and feel of what it means to be in presence in a real lab, nevertheless virtually. This immersive remote lab experience shall hereby be integrated into an already existing and widely used LMS for better operability and manageability. This work has been done in the course of the European project UbiLab (”A ubiquitous virtual laboratory framework”), conducted jointly between the Ss. Cyrill and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia, Anhalt University, Koethen, Germany, and University of Maribor, Slovenia. In the course of the project a remote collaboration platform for hardware-in-the loop will be developed and deployed, and at the same time learning experience in using it in the course of the education process of electrical, system automation, and computer engineers shall be gathered. As an outcome of the work done, it was found that there is no ready-made solution for carrying out remote laboratory work that completely covers the goals of the UbiLab project. Thus, a custom solution based on the compilation of listed platforms components should be developed. © 2022 Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. All rights reserved.

Learning by Doing from Afar: Mobilizing the Internet of Things to Enrich Remote Learning

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have introduced acute challenges to traditional approaches of engi-neering education. Without direct and regular access to physical equipment in laboratories, the opportunities for engineering students to practice 'learning by doing' has been greatly reduced or curtailed. This paper presents our attempt to demonstrate a simple, efficient, and effective method of approximating the hands-on experience of manipulating lab equipment by using an 'Internet of Things' (IoT) approach, which involves networked physical objects and the use of embedded software, sensors, and other technologies to facilitate control and exchange of data over the internet. While a few other researchers have also started experimenting with IoT in test labs, our approach differs sharply in some key ways. Instead of building entirely new IoT-integrated equipment for a given lesson, our approach is to adapt traditional lab equipment for remote use by making a number of small changes, which keep things simple to operate and cost-effective. As a result, students can connect to the laboratory facilities remotely and conduct experiments and gather data on their own. In this initial project, the target lab was a lesson on 'controls' consisting of solenoid valves as controllable actuators, high voltage controllable switch, and a series of sensors and web-cameras as monitoring facilities. Using a desktop remote control app, students make a connection to the university laboratory computers. The preliminary results provide a proof of concept for remotely control laboratories for undergraduate students in engineering that allow them to perform experiments in a fixable yet reliable manner. The implications for methods of enhancing remote learning extend beyond pandemic conditions © 2021 IEEE.

Engaging high school students to remote laboratories: The case of the μnet project

The microNet (μNet) project aims at the development of an extended network of educational cosmic ray telescopes in the geographical area of western Greece. In the initial phase (2022-2023) of the project, 20 telescopes will be deployed in high school buildings, while more than 50 schools will attend the educational program of μNet by distance, using the remote operated extensive air shower (EAS) detection stations and astroparticle-physics experimental devices deployed at the Hellenic Open University (HOU) campus. A pilot run of the μNet project started in 2020 for the deployment and operation of a small school network of cosmic ray telescopes in the prefecture of Achaea where the HOU is located. Although the original design of the pilot run included mainly activities that are carried out in person, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the remote operations of the μNet project gained focus, advancing the corresponding distance learning activities and remote laboratory methodologies. In this report we present the design of the pilot project, the remote experimental procedures followed during the run and discuss the results and the findings concerning the students' and schoolteachers' receptiveness of our methodology. © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Remote IoT Education Laboratory for Microcontrollers Based on the STM32 Chips.

The article describes the implementation of IoT technology in the teaching of microprocessor technology. The method presented in the article combines the reality and virtualization of the microprocessor technology laboratory. A created IoT monitoring device monitors the students' microcontroller pins and sends the data to the server to which the teacher is connected via the control application. The teacher has the opportunity to monitor the development of tasks and student code of the program, where the functionality of these tasks can be verified. Thanks to the IoT remote laboratory implementation, students' tasks during the lesson were improved. As many as 53% (n = 8) of those students who could improve their results achieved an improvement of one or up to two tasks during class. Before the IoT remote laboratory application, up to 30% (n = 6) of students could not solve any task and only 25% (n = 5) solved two tasks (full number of tasks) during the class. Before implementation, 45% (n = 9) solved one problem. After applying the IoT remote laboratory, these numbers increased significantly and up to 50% (n = 10) of students solved the full number of tasks. In contrast, only 10% (n = 2) of students did not solve any task.

Laboratory in the context of the Sars-CoV-2 Pandemic to Strengthen the Competencies of Students of the Computer Systems Engineering Program

The research consists of the development of remote laboratory experiences to strengthen the competencies of computer systems engineering students in the Robotics Workshop course;because the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, in Peru, prevents students from being able to carry out laboratory experiences in person. In this sense, new learning session designs were developed and used the Arduino-Uno project development board;as well as the Arduino Sketches software;allowing students to program electronic devices remotely, through the Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom platforms;achieving that students can implement prototypes, using sensors and motors applied in robotics, directly impacting the achievement of the course competence. As a result of the remote experiences, the students reached 91% in the K competence in the measurement carried out by the teacher and an average level of 77% of valuation in the perception survey regarding satisfaction and learning criteria. © 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.

Innovative remote laboratory to enhance remote learning for he digital electronics subjects

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced engineering disciplines to rethink practical activities which are imperative for development of engineering skills in higher education. The main challenge is developing new practical activities that suit remote learning whilst maintaining the experiences of an in-person lab session. This paper outlines the development and implementation of a remotely accessible undergraduate laboratory exercise using off the shelf equipment and remote learning software. In the described lab, students learn the fundamentals of digital systems and the process of using software to design logic circuits, through to implementing and analysing these circuits on an electronic board. The remote lab was successfully implemented using a camera, NI ELVIS II device with a Digital System Development Board (DSDB) and programmed using NI Multisim. The paper describes the development and transition of a traditionally in-person lab to a remote application whilst keeping the same intended learning outcomes and making sure a blended approach can be used in the future. Students remotely trigger inputs (as they would do in-person) to see the cause and effect of their design on the real hardware by pairing visual switches on screen to the physical switches on the board. The students use the camera pointed to the device to see how their designs behave when implemented on the real hardware. The designed lab has already been undertaken by more than 100 undergraduate students from a variety of engineering programmes over a series of multiple sessions. The paper discusses the feedback received from the use of surveys, semi-structured interviews and focus groups of students and academics involved in the development of these remote labs. The discussion focus includes the ease of use, relevance to core subject material and if the practical activities help with their understanding of theory. The paper then concludes by exploring future developments as well as the lessons learnt. © the authors, 2021. All Rights Reserved.