A java-based remote laboratory for distance learning

Abstract: This paper reports the establishment of a Java-based remote laboratory for distance learning. Many US institutions of higher education have successfully reported their establishments of Web-based education environments where the instructors and students participate in learning activities while geographically separated from each other. The success, nevertheless, has been primarily in the form of virtual classrooms that either electronically simulate conventional classroom settings enabling interaction among instructor and students in real time via a network, or provide instructional materials prepared in advance for students to access according to their own convenience in a non real-time fashion. Laboratory experiments that conventionally require on-site participation and manual movement of instruments have not been a focus of virtual classrooms until recently. Reports with respect to conducting laboratory experiments remotely, however, have been primarily on software simulations, rather than authentic laboratory experimentation. Due to the fact that laboratory experiments are a crucial aspect of the educational process for Engineering students, efforts have been made by faculty at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, to develop a remote laboratory to be used by their students via the Internet. A prototype that features a Java-based remote laboratory environment enabling users to conduct experiments on actual hardware setups via the Internet has been developed. This environment includes both Java-based software for user interface and remote instrument control. Dry runs regarding electronic elements characterization using actual hardware components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors for circuit setups have been performed with success by students via the Internet. Courses that can find actual use of this construct includ