Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (Dec 2004)
A Hardware Lab Anywhere At Any Time
Abstract
Scientific technical courses are an important component in any student's education. These courses are usually characterised by the fact that the students execute experiments in special laboratories. This leads to extremely high costs and a reduction in the maximum number of possible participants. From this traditional point of view, it doesn't seem possible to realise the concepts of a Virtual University in the context of sophisticated technical courses since the students must be "on the spot". In this paper we introduce the so-called Mobile Hardware Lab which makes student participation possible at any time and from any place. This lab nevertheless transfers a feeling of being present in a laboratory. This is accomplished with a special Learning Management System in combination with hardware components which correspond to a fully equipped laboratory workstation that are lent out to the students for the duration of the lab. The experiments are performed and solved at home, then handed in electronically. Judging and marking are also both performed electronically. Since 2003 the Mobile Hardware Lab is now offered in a completely web based form.
