Internet-assisted laboratory experiments for distance learning systems

Universities are increasingly using the Internet to improve undergraduate teaching, since it provides access to sources not conveniently obtainable through other means, allows for the creation of unusually rich course materials, it is an exceptionally fine tool for creating densely woven, engaging, and highly demanding new course materials, and it can reinforce the conception of students as active agents in the process of learning while enhancing discussion groups unbounded by time or place (Singh, 1996; 2002). The objectives were: i) to create a set of instructional laboratory exercises, mainly in the areas of food and bioprocess engineering that contain remotely conducted experiments assisted by the Internet, ii) to develop a complete set of instructions including software on how remotely conducted laboratories may be set up by an instructor, and iii) to evaluate the role of remotely conducted experiments in the effectiveness of teaching food and bioprocess engineering in undergraduate education