Definition and Objectives of Virtual Labs
Definition and Objectives of Virtual Labs
Virtual Labs: is a project introduced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, under the National Mission Education through Information and Communication Technology.
Good lab facilities and reorganized lab experiments are critical for any engineering college. Lack of physical distances and resources make it difficult to perform experiments, particularly involving sophisticated devices. The Virtual Labs project addresses the lack of exemplary lab facilities and trained teachers by making remote experimentation possible. With the present-day internet and computer technologies, these limitations no longer hamper students and researchers from enhancing their skills and knowledge.
Also, lab resources should be standard with fellow researchers in a country like ours to the extent possible. Yet another objective is to arouse the student’s curiosity and permit them to learn independently.
Definition and Objectives of Virtual Labs
Internet-based experimentation enables the use of knowledge, software, and data available on the web from inspiring skillful experiments to be performed simultaneously at points separated in space. Specifically, project addresses the following:
- Access to quality labs is limited to engineering colleges that lack these lab facilities.
- Access to quality labs is a complementary facility to colleges already with labs.
- A complete training management system around these labs is needed.
- Teachers’ training and skill‐set augmentation can realized through workshops and on‐site training.
First Phase of the Virtual Labs
Over 100 Virtual Labs containing approximately 700+ web‐enabled experiments designed for remote operation inspecting. Please note: a lab is a set of experiments, and the number of experiments in each lab may vary depending on the syllabi.
Second Phase of the Virtual Labs
The primary focus was to reach out to the potential users of Virtual Labs and to address the following issues:
- To maintain the Virtual Labs developed Phase I.
- To port Virtual Labs to a common platform and host it on a standard server.
- To create a ‘single package’ of simulation‐based Virtual Labs distributed to users.
- To convert labs, not based on free and open source technologies, to open source, wherever possible.
The Main Objectives of the Third Phase of the Virtual Labs Project
- To develop a methodology for developing new lab experiments by identifying gap areas with the involvement of all stakeholders.
- To develop a methodology for evaluating all the experiments developed.
- To host the newly developed experiments on a central server.
Potential Beneficiaries of the Project
The intended beneficiaries of the projects are:
All the students and Faculty Members of Science and Engineering Colleges who do not have admission for lab facilities and/or instruments.
The high school students’ inquisitiveness will be generated, possibly motivating them to pursue higher studies.
Researchers in different institutes who can collaborate/share equipment and resources.
Different engineering colleges can benefit from the content and related teaching resources.
The project has fulfilled the targeted beneficiaries’ requirements (and even gone beyond). An ecosystem has evolved around Virtual Labs, where the community has become involved in developing the labs and benefitting from the project.
Standardization and best practices
The following standard process development and sharing of best practices have been absolute upon within the project:
- Development of a standard process for Quality Control.
- Development of a standard process for Outreach.
- Development of a standard process for obtaining user Feedback.
- Development of a standard process for securing Feedback from subject experts.
- Continuous Evaluations by Subject Experts, thereby permitting mid‐term corrections.
- Use of a standard collaborative platform
- Repository of all project-related documents available on a shared server.
- Wiki and Developer forum.
Conclusion
The Virtual Laboratory is an interactive setting for creating and conducting experiments. The virtual lab will enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. It would help them learn basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation.