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“A remote laboratory offers the possibility of experimenting to a degree similar to physical interaction.”
One of the problems universities faced during the pandemic has been to seek alternatives to replace the practical experience in laboratories within schools with virtual or physical space. Likewise, with restricted resources and the need to take care of our health to reduce contagion risks, schools have had to limit the scope of laboratory practices, the time allocated, and the number of simultaneous participants in these spaces. The impact, UNESCO estimates (2021), affected more than 220 million higher-level students worldwide in 2020, whose studies were affected due to the closure of schools, which has prompted the search for other options to teach. Such as the use of videos with recordings of experiments, simulators (virtual laboratories), and live experimentation sessions.
Although technological advances have brought various tools that offer the possibility of teaching in different ways, laboratory practices have not been adequately replaced. It results in a problem since the tests carried out in the laboratory allow students to learn to design experiments, use instruments according to their discipline to measure variables, and finally carry them out. After all, although simulated experimentation can give us a clue of what we expect in classic engineering cases such as hydraulic pressure measurement, power tests, pendulum tests, or kinematics, the time comes where these practices are just a prelude. So that one day, university students can carry out the design of new experiments of greater complexity, where there is no information about what we should expect in reality.
“Universities and educational startups (Ed Techs) have carried out different initiatives to make remote laboratory experiences a reality.”
But before I continue talking more about labs, it is essential to define what they are and how remote labs have taken hold as an educational technology that we will probably hear about more frequently.
What are remote labs?
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines a laboratory as where scientific research, development, and analysis occur (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). They are spaces that serve to understand in greater depth how a group of variables interact with each other when experimenting with them. In extension, a remote laboratory offers the possibility of remote experimentation, to a degree similar to physical interaction; however, its development and popularization are still far from reaching a large part of the academic community. As proof, among all the publications written during the last 20 years, only 125 articles have been related to remote laboratories [1].
As a result of this situation, in recent years, a series of initiatives have been born, promoted by universities and educational startups (Ed Techs) to make remote laboratory experiences a reality.
Use of remote laboratories in the present age
Some education programs have integrated remote labs as part of their core content in recent years. At Tecnológico de Monterrey, different experiences have been created for distance education. An example of this is the MOOC Lab, a public laboratory for massive use focused on “Electric energy: basic concepts and principles,” which has facilitated the electricity practices carried out by thousands of users inside and outside Mexico during the course [2]. Until 2018, this and other laboratories of the institution carried out more than 1,600 weekly sessions in multiple workstations, allowing its users to experiment in areas like instrumentation, electrical circuits, electronics, electrical machines, robotics, among others (Pontaza, 2018).
Currently, educational companies focus on bringing the real laboratory experience to any computer in the world, such a LabsLand. This startup offers the possibility of remotely experimenting with practices that range from physics and chemistry school principles to experimentation with Arduino or radioactivity (LabsLand, 2021). Today, the company has reached countries like Brazil, Spain, South Africa, and Costa Rica. It has been recognized as a possible solution to rural depopulation in Europe and other parts of the world (Rodríguez Gil, 2020), which opens up an exciting possibility to increase the quality of distance education.
Will remote laboratories have a boom similar to what platforms of massive open online courses (MOOCs) are experiencing? It is somewhat hasty to answer yet, but following a trend of democratization, we may begin to see cubicles with laboratories connected to the internet doing experiments more frequently than we think. It will not be the most beneficial for the participants in some cases since the real experience can hardly be supplanted. On the other hand, this alternative can provide a convenient and affordable alternative for those who wish to add an empirical plus to their education or are limited by temporal or geographical issues. For example, some remote laboratories such as the MOOC Lab give free access to their participants and only require payment if a certificate is required. In addition, LabsLand offers packages with a price starting at USD 7.99 for higher education institutions per semester, also having other possibilities for schools and individual users.
If you want to know more about the LabsLand platform, we invite you to watch the seminar “Democratizing STEM experimentation with the LabsLand global network” available on the Living Lab & Data Hub of the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE).
About the author
Gerardo Castañeda Garza (g.castaneda@tec.mx) is a Doctor in Educational Innovation from the Tecnológico de Monterrey. His research interests are focused on contributing to society through interdisciplinary approaches from education.
References
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). laboratory. The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/science/laboratory-science
LabsLand. (2021). ¿Qué es un laboratorio real? LabsLand. https://labsland.com/es/about
Pontaza, D. (2018, March 1). Laboratorios remotos, una opción para la educación a distancia. CONECTA. https://tec.mx/es/noticias/nacional/educacion/laboratorios-remotos-una-opcion-para-la-educacion-distancia
Rodríguez Gil, L. (2020, June 25). Obtenido segundo premio en «Mañana Empieza Hoy 2020» y el reto de la despoblación rural. LabsLand. https://labsland.com/blog/es/2020/06/25/segundo-premio-en-manana-empieza-hoy-2020-y-el-reto-de-la-despoblacion-rural/
UNESCO. (2021). COVID-19: reopening and reimagining universities, survey on higher education through UNESCO National Commissions. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378174.locale=en
[1] Fuente: ERIC (03 noviembre de 2021). Cadena de texto: “remote laboratory” OR “remote experimentation”
[2] El curso se encuentra disponible en la plataforma disponible en la plataforma edX.
Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.
Translation by Daniel Wetta.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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