Remote laboratories for distance education

In the past few years many US institutions of higher education have established virtual classrooms where learners pursue higher education via the Internet. The true challenge in Distance Education however remains; how do students perform real lab experiments--such as electronics over the Internet? To examine this challenge, a survey was conducted on over fifty Web-based educational environments, to assess the shortcomings of laboratory facilities currently available on the Internet. The survey revealed that contemporary labs touted to be virtual environments are merely software simulations. Hence the new idea of a facility that will realistically provide lab experiments over the Internet. With this aim, an innovative system is designed using object-oriented methodologies in Unified Modeling Language to include all aspects of software and hardware. Java/RMI is used as the system's development tool. An experiment to measure the "VI characteristics of a Resistor" is built using National Instruments' DAQ systems. The students can logon through the Internet, register, and perform experiments by sending various current values, and measure the corresponding voltages across a resistor. The results are submitted for grade and the teaching assistant can grade the student after observing the input and output values over the Internet.