A Reproducible Solution for Implementing Online Laboratory Systems Through Inexpensive and Open-source Technology

Laboratory experiences are a crucial part of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. With coursework, college programs, and professional interactions increasingly being performed online the natural evolution of a ‘digital-first’ culture suggests that traditionally hands-on educational activities should find themselves represented online as well. Transitioning laboratory-based exercises online is difficult, time consuming, and sometimes costly. In addition, the efficacy of an online laboratory experience as a worthwhile educational tool has not been explored with depth. This study focuses on the details and benefits of incorporating laboratory experiences with online infrastructure with the perspective of optimizing development time and cost. The purpose is to use FOSS (free and open source software) in addition to other open source solutions to develop modular, scalable, and easily deployable remote laboratory infrastructure capable of interacting with traditional equipment over network connections. Introduction It is commonly accepted that one of the best ways to learn technical skills is through hands-on experiences. Be it through apprenticeships, internships, laboratories, or bootcamps, an interactive experience provides concrete, engaging, and fulfilling learning opportunities. By spending time personally carrying out a task, the brain forms neural connections which make it easier to remember and duplicate the task. The understanding of cognition and epistemology has grown throughout the entirety of the history of the human race. Masters pass down skills by having pupils perform those skills according to their instruction. However, with the rise of the digital age, the question becomes, can the dissemination of all concrete knowledge be conducted via computers just as well as through physical interactions. And if so, then how? The Impact of Remote Laboratory Systems on Education The digital world has become an integral part of the lives of faculty and their students and is now irrevocably intertwined with daily routines. As such, society grows ever more comfortable interacting with the world through a digital medium and seeks to find new avenues to do so and new virtual environments to explore. Therefore, it naturally follows that transitioning the whole of education towards a system which is more frequently used by digital natives may be in the best interest of future generations. The purpose of this study is to create a case for implementing remote, on-line laboratory experiences that can successfully fill the same intellectual need as their physical counterparts. The benefit of achieving this goal is similar to that of all on-line instruction, to reach more students and to make education accessible. The chief drawback is that creating the network infrastructure necessary to implement on-line experiences as a substitute for physical laboratory work is difficult and costly. This study also seeks to find and build open-source solutions to this problem using inexpensive hardware, open-source software, and simple network configurations that may add to the list of best practices built by previous and current researchers. Impact on Students Remote laboratory systems offer unique benefits to how students retain information. By providing students with a more open platform to access knowledge, rather than traditional physical interactions, it is possible to see positive effects on engagement and learning. Nabil Lehlou et al. (2009) conducted a study in which students in two different fields (Industrial Statistics and Manufacturing Systems) performed lab exercises and recorded how the students felt they understood the material before and after the lab. The results provided a clear indicator that the students felt the remote lab system provided a beneficial educational experience as six out of eight in Industrial Statistics and eight out of eight students in Manufacturing Systems reported an increase in confidence in the subject material. In addition, five out of eight students in Industrial Statistics and eight out of eight students in Manufacturing Systems reported a drastic improvement in their confidence for their respective fields. A separate study performed by H. Vargas et al. (2010) found similar positive results. They provided 120 students across seven universities with remote laboratory experiences. The research indicated that the full lab experience included performing an actual lab over the internet, which required students to reserve a time to use the lab resources. The response by the students indicated that they enjoyed the system as well as found it useful in understanding the respective course content. According to the results, 69% of the students felt satisfied with the system and 19% felt strongly satisfied. Additionally, 51% of students felt that the remote lab was better than traditional methods, 25% felt it was equal to traditional methods, and 15% felt it was much better than traditional methods. These results strongly assert that remote laboratory experiences not only have a place in the future of education but can have a large impact on its quality. Key Features Needed To better understand what makes remote lab systems effective and their impact on students potent, it is critical to understand what key features are common among these systems. In a study performed by P. Bisták et al. (2011) at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia, it was outlined that a remote lab system server could provide the client (user) with text messages, numerical data, graphs, animations, and video clips. The system could interface with sensors and cameras in order to collect useful information and statistics for the client. The setup involved a front-end GUI being served to a client, which in turn communicated over TCP/IP to a remote server. Information could be transmitted in either direction between the server and the client with data and commands running back and forth. The server would have access to the local hardware of the lab system and be able to send any commands received from the client to the hardware. Additionally, it would be able to collect output data from the lab hardware and send it back to the client. Another remote lab study was performed by T.J. Mateo Sanguino et al. (2012) at the University of Huelva in Palos de la Frontera, Spain. In this study a similar setup was implemented with a client providing user access to a remote server, which was in turn connected to a lab system. The user would have the ability to control computer devices on a rack through this setup and perform multiple remote labs. An interesting point to make which differentiates this study from the above is that it does not send photos back to the user. The labs performed did not require cameras or video, instead relying on numerical data to provide the pertinent observation. This is an important point to make as it shows that every lab system is different and there might not be a “generic” or “one-size-fits-all” approach. If this is the case, then a truly reproducible lab system must provide means by which different hardware or software peripherals may be added or removed depending on the needed application. However, at a minimum it appears that a remote laboratory needs a client-server system and some basic means by which to send text or commands between the client and server. Making Labs More Personal As humans are social and emotional creatures, it could be argued that experiences which leverage those traits would aid in the retention of information. It could also help explain why recent concepts such as social media have become fast staples in cultures around the world. They simply exploit the natural desires of people. Similarly, despite being called “remote”, it might be possible to use remote lab systems to improve learning through social, emotional and personal growth. A study performed by C. Terkowsky et al. (2013) at TU Dortmund University in Dortmund, Germany focused on the personalization of the remote laboratory experience. They referenced a theory on education and learning called “Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle” wherein multiple stages of learning are introduced. These stages are Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experimentation. According to the theory, they create the “learning experience”. Armed with this information, the study introduces the concept of an E-Portfolio. This E-Portfolio provides users of remote labs with the ability to record the work they performed and document their findings. The concept of this portfolio does not stop at being a simple digital notebook, however. The study asserts that this portfolio can be used by professors to check on students’ work or be opened to the public in order to add a social dynamic. The study calls the social aspect a “community” and says that it can facilitate learning. To reinforce the main point, by adding a social aspect, be it with classmates or with the world, users will have a greater feeling of connection with their work and might retain more information. Another study performed by Z. Nedic (2013) at the University of South Australia shines light on the collaborative aspect of remote labs. The study saw international students organize themselves autonomously to complete group lab assignments and recorded their planning and communication. The results showed that students, despite being from different countries, exhibited politeness when trying to create social groups and complete the remote labs. The study gives hope to the notion of creating a more connected educational system where students from around the world participate in the same curriculum. This in turn also facilitates international cooperation and communication in the real world, as a large amount of professional communication is done remotely. One study performed by Qing Ding et al. (2017) as joint research between C