scholarly journals Virtual laboratories in cloud infrastructure of educational institutions

Author(s):  
Evgeniy Pluzhnik ◽  
Evgeny Nikulchev
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Vasyl P. Oleksyuk

This paper describes the problems of using cloud computing in education. In the article it has been investigated the concept of cloud infrastructure in higher educational institutions. The model of cloudy infrastructure is offered. The hybrid model is most recent for higher educational institution. Conceptual provisions (technical and methodical) of designing of cloud are formulated. Described experience of deployment corporate clouds on the basis of the Apache CloudStack platform. The diagram of the organization of physical components of cloudy infrastructure (a hypervisor, physical and virtual area networks, routers, the domain controller, the VPN server) is provided.


Author(s):  
Saifallah Al Kati ◽  
Muhammad Asif Khan

During the recent Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic the traditional education system almost halted throughout the world. However, in order to continue with the education without wasting students time most of the countries transferred their teaching online. Although the online teaching is widely used but there are many challenges and security issues specially when the education is disseminated using education cloud. In this article we examine and review such challenges and security issues that may impact students and teachers in various educational institutions in Saudi Arabia. A review of hybrid cloud model is presented in order to benefit across institutions. The research also articulates different ways which can be adopted by educational institutions to provide smooth online teaching due to pandemic of covid-19. We also present some solutions that may help overcome challenges and secure a robust cloud infrastructure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-51
Author(s):  
Zainab S. Attarbashi ◽  
Aisha Hassan Abdalla Hashim ◽  
Mustafa Ali Abuzaraida ◽  
Othman Omran Khalifa ◽  
Manar Mustafa

Online learning has gained substantial traction since the popularization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) over the last decade. After the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, online learning has become an indispensable mode of modern-day education. All educational institutions around the world are now compelled to switch to online classes as a physically safer and more flexible option for teaching and learning during the pandemic. Although many studies have examined the effectiveness of this online T&L mode, almost no attention has been paid to the use of virtual laboratories, which are an important means of teaching practical skills and complicated theories for science and engineering subjects. Like other online methods that have their particular advantages and disadvantages, the utility of virtual laboratories is detracted by the fact that they lack some of the qualities present in the actual experiments seen in traditional learning classrooms. In particular, virtual labs are not as effective as authentic lab experiments in developing soft skills that are typically acquired from students’ teamwork activities, in addition to lacking the ability to assess the various levels of knowledge acquisition, content mastery and student attention in class. Hence, the aim of this paper is to address these issues about the utility and drawbacks of virtual labs in achieving the long-term goals and learning outcomes of STEM education. In addressing these issues, the paper highlights the varying technologies, such as gaming and virtual reality, used by different educational institutions as substitutes for physical engineering laboratories. The final section of the paper discusses some of the ethical issues related to online learning for science and engineering subjects.


Author(s):  
Yaoye Li ◽  
Sven K. Esche ◽  
Constantin Chassapis

Numerous online laboratory resources have been and continue to be developed by many educational institutions around the world. These resources include both remote laboratories, which are based on actual experimental devices accessed remotely, as well as virtual laboratories, which represent software simulations of experiments. In the vast majority of the cases, the remotely accessible online laboratories reported on in the literature represent stand-alone systems, which are typically difficult to share by large numbers of learners dispersed at various educational institutions. This has led to the existence of many functionally similar, but independently operating systems developed in many places. This paper will identify the common features of such online laboratory resources. Then, the framework for a network of interconnected resource managers, which facilitate the efficient implementation and deployment of as well as the subsequent search for and shared usage of online laboratory resources (e.g. remote experiments, virtual experiments, game-based environments, etc.), will be presented. A centralized resource repository is presented that enables the publishing of information on the existence and availability of specific resources through the network. Finally, an example is given that illustrates the issues relating to joining, publishing, searching for and accessing online laboratory resources in that framework.


2020 ◽  
pp. 234763112097075
Author(s):  
N. Kapilan ◽  
P. Vidhya ◽  
Xiao-Zhi Gao

The engineering students understand the engineering concepts effectively when they conduct the experiments in the laboratory. Hence, laboratory is as important as theory; however, the ill-equipped laboratory facilities affect the students’ learnability. The virtual laboratories may help the students overcome the problems faced by them in the conventional laboratory. In India, educational activities during the middle of the semester were affected due to lockdown related to COVID-19. However, the theory classes were conducted online, and educational institutions are finding it difficult to complete the laboratory experiments due to closure of colleges for the students due to COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, we have conducted a faculty development programme for the engineering college faculty members on mechanical engineering virtual laboratories. Similarly, we have trained the mechanical engineering students on fluid mechanics virtual laboratory. We have taken feedback from the participants of these virtual laboratory training programme and analysed it. From the analysis we have observed that more than 90 per cent of the participants were happy about the virtual laboratory and they expressed that their learning process improved with virtual laboratory experiments. Also, they felt that the virtual laboratories can be used till the COVID-19 pandemic issues are solved. Since the vaccine for COVID-19 is not available yet, the virtual laboratories will help the mechanical engineering students to conduct the laboratory experiments for the academic year 2020–2021.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 548
Author(s):  
Mohamed Elsayed Ahmed ◽  
Shinobu Hasegawa

The increasing use of online virtual laboratories (OVLs) in educational institutions as a recent educational technology application necessitates developing a new educational platform for assisting instructors in using such technology in the teaching process without web programming obstacles. The OVLs are online environments that provide students with several types of content such as simulations, videos, scientific images, and infographics related to real laboratory experiments. This article proposes a unified online virtual laboratory platform (OVLP) to support instructors who teach real laboratory experiments in multi-domains. To evaluate the proposed platform, five university instructors and five experts of ICT in education have participated in this study. The data were collected using online questionnaires for both specialists, respectively. Regarding the results, they confirm that the proposed platform is acceptable for teaching real laboratory experiments, especially in the tested domains.


The expanding use of virtual learning applications in educational institutions requires educators to enhance their skills in the design and production of these applications. A novel VLP was proposed in this study to cultivate students’ skills in designing and producing online virtual laboratories (OVLs). To examine the effects of the VLP, thirty Year-4 undergraduate students majoring in educational technology participated in this study using a pre- and post-test design. The data were collected using online instruments; an achievement test, a performance observation card, a product evaluation card, and a usability questionnaire. The results showed that the proposed VLP was effective in increasing student knowledge and practical skills required to design and produce an OVL. Students found the VLP to be a comfortable way for learning relevant knowledge and skills.


2020 ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Andrieiev A.M. ◽  
Tykhonska N.I.

2091У статті розглянуто проблему організації експериментальної діяльності учнів з метою розвитку екс-периментаторських умінь за умов дистанційної форми навчання. Експериментаторськими автори вва-жають уміння, якими має володіти учень для проведення самостійних досліджень фізичних об’єктів. Важливою складовою частиною розвитку цих умінь є практична діяльність учнів із використанням від-повідного фізичного обладнання. Складність виконання цієї умови підсилюється за дистанційної форми навчання (наприклад, під час карантину в закладах освіти). Як варіант розв’язання зазначеної проблеми дистанційного навчання запропоновано використовувати дидактичні методи, що виявляють найбільші компенсаторні можливості для розвитку в учнів експериментаторських умінь з фізики. Як обґрунту-вання цієї ідеї вказано на дослідження психологів та дидактів щодо можливої заміни одного сполучен-ня дидактичних методів іншим для досягнення певної мети навчання. Описано авторські методи, що мають такі компенсаторні можливості. Цими методами є: використання наочних фізичних задач; вико-ристання «домашніх» експериментальних, винахідницьких та конструкторських задач; використання віртуальних лабораторій та електронних симуляторів фізичних дослідів. Зазначені методи виявляють значні компенсаторні можливості для розвитку в учнів експериментаторських умінь з фізики та не потребують виконання експерименту у фізичній лабораторії. Наголошується, що набуття досвіду вико-ристання цих методів має бути обов’язковим компонентом професійної підготовки майбутніх учителів фізики. У статті наведено авторські приклади наочних фізичних задач, що можна використовувати для перевірки рівня сформованості в учнів знань та вмінь, необхідних для успішної експериментальної діяльності; експериментальні, винахідницькі та конструкторські задачі, що не потребують складно-го обладнання; вказано роль електронних симуляцій у розвитку експериментаторських умінь учнів. Подальші дослідження будуть пов’язані з розробленням циклу експериментальних задач, структурова-них за розділами фізики, що можна пропонувати учням також в умовах дистанційної форми навчання. The article considers the problem of organizing experimental activities of students in order to develop experimental skills in terms of distance learning. Experimental authors consider the skills that a student should have to conduct independent research of physical objects. An important component of the development of these skills is the practical activities of students using appropriate physical equipment. The complexity of fulfilling this condition is exacerbated by distance learning (for example, during quarantine in educational institutions). As a variant of solving this problem of distance learning, it is proposed to use didactic methods that reveal the greatest compensatory opportunities for the development of students’ experimental skills in physics. As a substantiation of this idea the research of psychologists and didactics concerning possible replacement of one combination of didactic methods by another for achievement of the certain purpose of training is specified. The author’s methods having such compensatory possibilities are described. These methods are: the use of visual physical tasks; use of “home” experimental, inventive and design tasks; use of virtual laboratories and electronic simulators of physical experiments. These methods reveal significant compensatory opportunities for the development of students’ experimental skills in physics and do not require an experiment in a physical laboratory. It is emphasized that gaining experience in using these methods should be a mandatory component of the training of future physics teachers. The article presents the author’s examples of visual physical problems that can be used to test the level of formation of students’ knowledge and skills necessary for successful experimental activities; experimental, inventive and design tasks that do not require complex equipment; the role of electronic simulations in the development of students’ experimental skills is indicated. Further research will be related to the development of a series of experimental problems structured by sections of physics, which can be offered to students also in terms of distance learning.


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