Awareness and reflection in virtual and remote laboratories: the case of computer education

International audienceVirtual and remote laboratories are of most importance when students have to acquire professional skills and competencies. Also, educational sciences establish reflection as a central concern for learners' engagement in deep learning. As research showed that self- and social awareness promote reflection, the present research investigates how the design of awareness tools could leverage reflective thinking and peer support during a practical activity. We designed a set of tools including social comparison, reflection-on- and -in-action tools. They have been integrated into the Lab4CE system, our remote laboratory environment for computer education. An experimentation showed that awareness and reflection tools had small but positive impact on students' perception of learning and that learners significantly used these tools and highly rated the system. These results suggest additional studies to investigate tools are able to increase students' perception of reflection, interactivity and peer support and to understand how technology can enhance reflection