The Remote Laboratory as a Teaching Resource in the Scientific and Technological Training

Abstract

The advances obtained in the field of knowledge of the information and communication technologies (ICT), transformed into a wide range of applications, methods and techniques, have forwarded the development of distance learning through the Internet. When distance learning is linked to disciplines such as Physics, Chemistry and Engineering, the best-known learning management systems (LMS) make it possible to develop some practical activities but these turn out narrow when it is necessary to encourage learning processes through experimental activities. During the last decades, and mostly in the countries in the north hemisphere, this need found a way for the exploration of possibilities, in the development of the remote laboratories. The challenge is that the inclusion of these laboratories in the curriculum is done within the frame of strategies that add value to the teaching processes, giving real chances for the building of learning experiences. This work aims at sharing the findings and thoughts arisen from the analysis of some significant number of experiences carried out by the authors, from the inclusion of the remote laboratory as a complementary teaching resource in different educational environments: courses of Physics for the teaching of Engineering at National Universities, postgraduate training and teaching training.