Session Title: Web-Based Associate of Science and Remote Labs
Time & Date: 2:00 P.M. – 2:55 P.M., Thursday, June 18, 2009
Location: Rm. 155, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (IKBLC)
Session Description: During the past year and a half, North Island College has been leading a project to develop a web-based delivery option for the Associate of Science Degree Program. While it is relatively easy to put the theory components of lab science courses on-line effectively, the lab components are a different matter. The emphasis in labs is ‘hands on’ experience. While this is fine for those students who can commit to some form of residency, it becomes a barrier to registration for students who live in remote areas or who have responsibilities to job and/or family which make participation in a traditional lab course impossible. In answer to this challenge we are developing the Remote Web-based Science Laboratory (RWSL), which is a software and robotic interface that allows students to interact with actual lab equipment to collect authentic data in real time.
The Presentation will include a brief history of this project from its inception during our work with NIC’s Space Science and Astronomy courses and the building of the Tatla Lake On-line Observatory through to a report on RWSL progress. We will report on the curriculum we have placed on SOL*R to date and what we intend to make available as a result of the second year of the project. We will then look closely at RWSL and how it has been implemented. We hope to finish off with either a demonstration of the robotic arm component of RWSL or with a demonstration of an actual remote lab depending on the technology available at this conference.
The project partnership includes College of the Rockies, Thompson Rivers University – Open Learning, and the Tatlayoko Think Tank. We have recently been joined by Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Vancouver Island University. Funding for the first year of the project was provided by the Inukshuk Fund and BCcampus and funding for the second year is through BCcampus.
Conference Streams: Research
Session Format: Paper Jam
Co-Presenter: Ron Evans
Co-Presenter: Albert Balbon
