E-learning Environmental Design of a Distributed Online Laboratory for Optical Circuits Courses

E-learning offers students access to tools and course materials over the internet. By distributing tools and materials in this fashion, students isolated from the university environment can still work toward University degrees in most fields offered. Courses that include a laboratory component have traditionally required students to be on-site. This is primarily due to the need for laboratory resources to be in a centralized location for both practical and safety reasons. This fact has hampered the freedom of non traditional (off campus) students to achieve their educational goals. The web adaptations of software packages such as LabView allow control of experiments over the internet. Remote laboratories then become possible.