Variable interactivity with dynamic control strategies in remote laboratory experiments

Abstract

Remote Access Laboratories (RAL) provide mechanisms to operate an experimental setup through the internet for educational purposes. These setups contain a control mechanism that reads inputs from the users, process them and return output data. Based on interactivity between user and experiment, the experiments are classified as interactive or batched. This paper defines the interactivity as a continuum from interactive to batched. This enables the experiment to alter the interactivity level for different outcomes. It may be changed when the network conditions are adverse and does not allow the interactive experiments to operate as they should for proper learning outcomes. It may also be altered by the makers of the experiment to design separate user interfaces for different learning goals or educational settings. A procedure to identify commands or functions that may be executed on the experiment and the relationship between different levels of commands are described here.