VIRTUAL LABS
An initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development under the “National Mission on Education through ICT”.
- It aims to provide remote-access to Laboratories in various disciplines of science and engineering for students at all levels from under-graduate to research.
- It also intends to develop a complete Learning Management System where the students can avail the various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self-evaluation.
- There is also a component where in costly equipment and resources are shared, which are otherwise available to only a limited number of users due to constraints on time and geographical distances.
- Seven IIT’s(Delhi,Bombay,Kanpur,Kharagpur,Madras,Roorkeeand Guwahati),IIIT Hyderabad, Amrita University, University, Karnataka, and College of Engineering ,Pune ,are the institutions participating in the Virtual Lab.
- It intends to cover physical sciences, chemical science and various branches of engineering like electronics and communications, computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, biotechnology engineering and civil engineering.
1. OBJECTIVES OF THE VIRTUAL LAB PROJECTS:
1. To provide remote-access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to students at the undergraduate level, post graduate level as well as to research scholars.
2. To enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. This would help them in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation
3. To provide a complete Learning Management System around the Virtual Labs where the students can avail the various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self evaluation.
- Anytime Any where lab.
- Accessible through Internet on any PC/Laptop.
- Surprisingly Even on your Smartphone.
- Developed in Self Leaning mode.
- Innovative Experimentations.
2. OBJECTIVES
- To provide remote-access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to students at the undergraduate level, post graduate level as well as to research scholars.
- To enthuse students to conduct experiments by arousing their curiosity. This would help them in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation.
- To provide a complete Learning Management System around the Virtual Labs where the students can avail the various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self evaluation.
- To share costly equipment and resources, which are otherwise available to limited number of users due to constraints on time and geographical distances.
3. SALIENT FEATURES
- Virtual Labs will provide to the students the result of an experiment by one of the following methods(or possibly a combination)
- Modeling the physical phenomenon by a set of equations and carrying out simulations to yield the result of the particular experiment. This can, at-the-best, provide an approximate version of the ‘real-world ‘experiment.
- Providing measured data for virtual lab experiments corresponding to the data previously obtained by measurements on an actual system.
- Remotely triggering an experiment in an actual lab and providing the student the result of the experiment through the computer interface. This would entail carrying out the actual lab experiment remotely.
- Virtual Labs will be made more effective and realistic by providing additional inputs to the students like accompanying audio and video streaming of an actual lab experiment and equipment.
4. VIRTUAL LABS OF INDIA
- Through an Initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) under the National Mission on Education through ICT, twelve institutions of higher learning across India partnered to create Virtual Labs.
- Their goal was to narrow the knowledge gap by providing equal opportunity and access. Virtual Labs enables remote experimentation, which addresses the lack of resources such as sophisticated instruments. The barrier of physical distance is removed. Students can study various disciplines of Science and Engineering and strengthen their skills without extra financial burden.
- Anywhere from four to twenty-five labs are offered per discipline area. These areas include Computer Science & Engineering, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, and Civil Engineering, Biotechnology and Biomedical engineering, and more.
- In any number of these Virtual Labs students uses one or a combination of modeling, measured data, and remote triggering.
- For example, a Chemical Engineering student might learn about a Flow-through Venturi Meter in a lab offered by the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NITK). The lab provides the background and theory, a procedure and simulation, a self-evaluation, and is supported by references and videos.
- Virtual Labs caters to students at the undergraduate level and postgraduate level as well as to research scholars.
