Member storyTim Drysdale headshot

Unlocking the future with Remote Labs

The University of Edinburgh has been using Remote Labs to revolutionise the way students access engineering and promote curriculum change.

Tim Drysdale headshot

Facing increasing societal and industrial demands to offer more practical work to more students than ever before, the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh needed a novel solution for expanding their teaching laboratories. Enter the remote laboratories project, a brainchild of Professor Tim Drysdale and his team, winners of the 2023 Jisc sponsored ALT award for digital transformation – aiming to be more space-efficient, transforming unused foyer space into teaching laboratory space that adds a science museum feel to the campus.

"Like all projects, it started by identifying a need. We wanted to increase practical work for our students as well as finding a way to do this within our city centre campus.”

Complementing the work of traditional laboratories, the remote laboratories project envisions working alongside existing structures. Students can connect anytime, anywhere, giving them the freedom to conduct experiments from their web browser. Tim's vision? A 10 to 20 times increase in course usage, unlocking a realm of possibilities for learners.

"Students can connect to the remote labs from anywhere using a mobile phone or laptop. They could be in a classroom, a cafe, or even in the library with 24/7 access. I've even connected to experiments from an airplane!"

The project features over 100 experiments across all engineering disciplines. One of them is a weighted disk on a motor, simulating an elbow joint in a robot for control engineers in electronics and mechanics. They modify parameters based on measurements, ensuring the robot arm behaves as expected, crucial for tasks like precision picking and placing. Other experiments involve truss structures, pendulums, civil infrastructure (bridges), and mobile phone data transmission. Excitingly, the project is expanding to include experiments in chemical engineering, incorporating fluids.

The heartbeat of the initiative lies in collaboration. Teams, spanning from academics to technical wizards, engaged in free-flowing discussions that transcend hierarchies. Professor Drysdale emphasised the delicate dance of addressing concerns, proving tangible benefits, and aligning with pedagogical goals to ensure the project came to life.

"Buy-in is crucial, requiring a mix of persistence and early conviction in the right direction. It's vital to swiftly demonstrate practical benefits to senior management—making the initiative tangible, valuable, useful, and cost-effective.”

A standout feature of this project is its impact on student accessibility. With blended learning becoming increasingly important in education, students are exploring digital ways of learning alongside traditional face to face methods of teaching. Remote laboratories offer the flexibility to conduct practical work through a web browser, requiring only an internet-connected device. This opens up opportunities for independent study, enabling students to navigate various commitments such as mobility issues, caregiving, and work obligations. Traditional constraints of rigid timetables and high laboratory capacity are alleviated, granting students the freedom to access practical work at their convenience, making a significant impact on their learning experience.

Artificial intelligence, is at the forefront of everyone's attention. Innovations like remote laboratories are paving the way for authentic assessment of processes. Traditional assessments have been historically output-focused due to cost considerations. However, with the rich digital data stream between students and experiments, students and educators can now inexpensively delve into the learning process itself. This shift is essential to integrating AI into education, preparing students for a professional world where such tools are regularly used.

“The possibility to expand what we're doing to a worldwide community has been at the heart of our thinking on this project from the beginning.”

Tim shares the importance in the future of education and complementing the available commercial technologies with academic developments that cover the unique needs that each organisation has. He sees a future where there is opportunity for universities to be able to customise courses they’re providing learners to suit their local context and communities.

“If you can develop in-house, then you can develop the technology and the pedagogy together rather than having to reverse fit your pedagogy to something that you've bought in off the shelf.”

Professor Drysdale extends an invitation to universities and educators to discuss how you may achieve similar benefits in your practical work and digital transformations. The future of STEM education is vibrant, full of change, and the journey to redefine it is underway.

"For interested readers, feel free to reach out. We can schedule a call, conduct demos together, and showcase our ongoing work while addressing any questions you may have."

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