Abstract
While a traditional, hands-on laboratory experience may be ideal, it is not always feasible. The costs associated with providing laboratory resources to students and the logistics of providing access can be prohibitive. This is particularly the case with laboratories that utilise limited resources or with students who may be performing their coursework remotely. In such cases, an Online Laboratory a laboratory that students can control remotely via the Internet can provide students with a valuable practical experience that is complementary to available hands-on laboratories. At the beginning, Online Laboratories were developed as ad hoc solutions and, as such, were designed for a very specific purpose and were not intended to be adapted or generalised. Ad hoc implementations of Online Laboratories are likely to neglect important aspects and requirements of an Online Laboratory system, such as scalability (ability to cope with a growing number of users and laboratories to manage). Furthermore, sharing Online Laboratories was also not a trivial issue. This chapter will present an overview of the main technical developments, software architecture models and access schemes used to deploy Online Laboratories.
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Zutin, D.G. (2018). Online Laboratory Architectures and Technical Considerations. In: Auer, M., Azad, A., Edwards, A., de Jong, T. (eds) Cyber-Physical Laboratories in Engineering and Science Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76935-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76935-6_1
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