DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF PERSONALISED

REMOTE EXPERIMENTS IN AN ENGINEERING DEGREE

M. C. Levesley, P. Culmer, K. Page, J. Gallagher, A. P. H. Weightman, B. B. Bhakta, A. Tennant

University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

P. Cripton

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Keywords: e-Learning, Remotely Operated Experiments, Web-based Learning and Teaching Technologies.

Abstract: A system to allow remote access to experimental equipment via the internet has been developed at the

University of Leeds in the UK. This system, called ReLOAD (Real Labs Operated At a Distance), has been

used to deliver laboratory sessions to over 200 undergraduate engineering students at the University of

British Columbia, using laboratory equipment located at Leeds. The laboratory sessions were developed

from well established face-to-face sessions used at the University of Leeds for many years. New equipment

was built and a personalised experiment for each student was generated to ensure student’s learning

objective remained the same but the data used to present the experimental problem varied. As part of the

experiment, students were asked to determine the length of a vibrating beam from their experimental data.

Using prizes for the closest answer to the measured length as an incentive, students were asked to record

their calculated beam length, to assess their performance. A web-based student feedback system was

developed to provide anonymous feedback. Initial results are very encouraging, with students able to

undertake remote experimentation with high levels of measurement precision and feedback suggesting the

system easy to use. Further experiments and international collaborations are underway using ReLOAD.

1 INTRODUCTION

In many engineering degrees across the world,

particularly at undergraduate levels, extensive use is

made of laboratory based teaching sessions. Within

these sessions both cognitive skills (knowledge,

information analysis etc.) and psychomotor skills

(physical skills, such as the use of tools and

equipment) are developed. Even in well funded

universities, where numerous copies of laboratory

equipment are available and the timetable allows

multiple sessions, students find that access to

laboratory equipment is still limited. For example, a

student may find that after having collected some

initial data, they may wish to repeat some part of

their experiment in order to confirm their findings.

With congested timetables and shortage of

laboratory space, this may not always be feasible. As

an alternative, some Universities have chosen to

replace laboratory sessions with hi-fidelity

simulations that can be accessed more easily,

However restrictions on software licenses and

increased pressures on computer clusters, does not

guarantee unlimited access and allow students the

ability to obtain results from real experimental

equipment such as that they may encounter on

leaving university. Moreover it is often the highly

practical ‘real world’ experiments that many

engineering students find particularly interesting and

exciting, rather than just simulations. In addition,

with an increasing number of strategic alliances

between major universities being developed, sharing

learning resources makes economic sense, allowing

more efficient use of equipment and a greater variety

of learning activities. In addition to initiatives such

as MIT/Cambridge iLab, A number of European

institutions have begun to include web based

experimentation as pert of their curriculum. Over

the last 7 years, the University of Leeds has been

developing a system that allows access to the School

330

C. Levesley M., Culmer P., Page K., Gallagher J., P. H. Weightman A., B. Bhakta B., Tennant A. and Cripton P. (2007).

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF PERSONALISED REMOTE EXPERIMENTS IN AN ENGINEERING DEGREE.

In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies - Society, e-Business and e-Government /

e-Learning, pages 330-337

DOI: 10.5220/0001278003300337

 SciTePress

of Mechanical Engineering’s excellent experimental

equipment via the internet. Initially intended for

Leeds students only, it has now been extended to

students from other universities.

2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The following requirements were identified as being

important to enable successful remote operation of

experiments in an educational environment.

The system developed should be

• simple, reliable, robust and easily maintainable.

• modular, allowing existing experiments to be

adapted and modified and new ones to be

developed rapidly.

• able to deliver personalised experiments, either

to a group or an individual user.

The user should be able to

• access experimental equipment remotely

without the need for specialist software or

hardware.

• plan and conduct either a single or a series of

experiments.

• select and vary key input parameters and select

which key measurements are to be taken.

• be convinced that the results are as a result of

real experimentation and not simulation.

3 SYSTEM OVERVIEW

In recent years, data acquisition and data output to

external sensors and devices has become more cost

effective and reliable. Further, the development of

computer communication networks now make it

relatively straightforward for one computer to

communicate rapidly with another across both

relatively small and large distances, using local area

networks (LANs) or the internet. There are

numerous ways in which remote experiments can be

configured. At Iowa State University for example, a

program was developed for primary and secondary

schools to access a Scanning Electron Microscope

through the internet (Chumbley, 2002). This system

allowed visual control of the microscope but didn’t

allow much user input or control. At the Stevens

Institute of Technology distance learning modules

were accompanied by LabVIEW programs to give

virtual results and pre-recorded experimental results

to compare (Esche, 2001). Another scheme

developed by the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology called iLab (Harwood, 2004) uses a

downloadable Java applet to connect to a lab server

and run experiments. The data is returned to the

applet for analysis. All of these systems rely on a

client machine for viewing, a central server and an

experiment machine for data acquisition.

The approach taken here to fulfil the

requirements identified in section 2 is depicted in

Figure 1 (Levesley, 2006). Each piece of equipment

is connected physically to a local computer (the

Experiment Servers) via data acquisition cards and

appropriate cabling. Each experiment server runs

software to drive and monitor the particular pieces

of equipment attached to it, this may be a single

piece of equipment or multiple pieces. In addition

each Experiment Server is connected to the school’s

local area network to allow it to communicate with a

central server (the ReLOAD Server).

Figure 1: ReLOAD Remote Experiment Structure.

The ReLOAD Server is in fact split into two

physical devices, a Server PC and a Web Server PC.

The Server PC handles exchange from the

Experiment Servers and a Web Server PC which

acts as an internet website host allowing direct

access from the remote client machines. In this way

a remote client can select an experiment they wish to

perform from those currently available on the

ReLOAD Server, which passes their request to the

appropriate Experiment Server. This then controls

the correct piece of equipment and monitors and

Internet

Client Computer

Experiment

Server 1

Equipment 1.1

Equipment 1.2

LAN

Hard Wired

Connection

Equipment 2.1

Equipment 2.2

ReLOAD

Server

Experiment

Server 2

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331

stores data from it. Data is then processed, which

and passed back to the ReLOAD Server for final

delivery to the correct client.

3.1 ReLOAD Server

The ReLOAD Web Sever receives and process

requests from the client. The mechanism by which

data is transmitted and received from the client

computer has significant impact on the system’s

functionality and versatility. Several alternative

methods have been proposed previously, ranging

from the use of Active-X [Hites, 2002] to Java

applets [Sanchez, 2000] to control experiments. To

achieve the requirement of creating a reliable and

easily maintainable system, the approach taken here

has been to develop as simple a system as possible,

while still allowing an appropriate level of

interaction with the remote experiment. A standard

web form is used at the client end to generate a

request for an experiment, which is subsequently

used to retrieve and view the associated results. The

client computer requires standard Java support but

only to view the video feedback if requested. Once a

request has been sent to the appropriate Experiment

Server the ReLOAD Server is free to process the

next request, while the current experiment is run.

3.2 Experiment Server

The Experiment Server controls the experimental

equipment attached to it and transfers data via the

LAN to the ReLOAD Server. Upon receiving a

request from the ReLOAD Server, the Experiment

Server sends commands, via a digital to analogue

data acquisition card, to initiate an experiment. Data

from various sensors attached to the equipment is

recorded via the data acquisitions cards and stored

on the Experiment Server. In addition, data captured

from a webcam may also be recorded

simultaneously. On completion of the experiment

the data is passed back to the ReLOAD Server and is

then ready to receive another request. The

Experiment Servers are located in close proximity to

the equipment and are also used for display

purposes, showing data regarding the experiment

currently being run along with live video images

from the webcam. This allows those at the hosting

institute to observe the experiments being requested

remotely.

3.3 System Software

The software platform LabVIEW, was selected to

develop the software required on both the ReLOAD

Server and the Experiment Servers. Although

LabVIEW allows control panels to be embedded

within web pages, using Active-X components or

plug-ins, depending on the client browser type, an

alternative approach was developed here. Using the

Internet Toolkit, CGI (common gateway interface)

scripts were developed to allow the client to enter

data into various fields in a ‘request’ web-page and

then post it to the ReLOAD Server. Once posted the

client’s web browser will await a response in the

form of a ‘results’ web-page. This frees up the

ReLOAD Server to process another request, making

it more efficient but at the expense of allowing real-

time, fully interactive control of the equipment.

LabVIEW is also used for capturing data from

sensors and controlling actuators. Software routines

(known as VI’s in LabVIEW) written specifically

for each experiment, interpret commands received

from the ReLOAD Server and convert these into

analogue and digital signals which are outputted to

actuators attached to the experimental equipment.

Separate VI’s record data from sensors, process and

pass it back to the ReLOAD Server.

Figure 2: The Queue Communication Process.

One of the most important tasks for the software

is to manage the requests for experiments in an

efficient way. A queuing system has been

implemented, see Figure 2, to ensure the

experiments are conducted in an appropriate order.

Two queues store and order incoming experiments

and outgoing results. When the server receives data

posted from the ‘request’ web-page it is added to the

back of the request queue. When the experimental

apparatus is ready to conduct an experiment it

removes the oldest request from the queue and uses

the parameters given. When the experiment finishes

a ‘results’ web-page is placed at the back of the

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results queue. Both queues operate on a first in, first

out basis. The queue creator constantly waits for

entries in the results queue and sends them back to

the user as soon as they are received.

4 EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT

The example chosen to demonstrate the ReLOAD

system is one in which students are asked to study

how the vibration characteristics of a vibrating beam

are changed, when a large mass is added to the free

end of the beam. This experiment is based on one

used as a face-to-face laboratory session in a level 2

module, Vibration and Control (MECH2170), as

part of an undergraduate engineering degree

programme at Leeds. In the face-to-face laboratory

session, students manually displace the free end of

the beam and then release it. The resulting vibrations

are measured using strain gauges mounted on the

beam’s surface, which give a signal proportional to

the displacement of the beam. The students are then

given a permanent magnet which they attach to the

free end of the beam. They then repeat the

experiment. By observing the two sets of data,

students can see the effect of adding mass to the

system. Further, by careful measurement of the

resulting frequencies of vibration and by knowing

the exact amount of mass added, by weighing the

magnet, students can then calculate experimental

values for the stiffness and vibrating mass of the

beam. They are then required to measure the size of

the beam and from this data, determine theoretical

values. Finally students are encouraged to compare

their experimentally derived values of stiffness and

vibrating mass with their theoretically derived

values. Clearly, certain aspects to this face-to-face

session can not be reproduced exactly, for example it

is not possible for the ‘remote’ students to physically

measure the dimensions of the beam, the added mass

of the magnet, or to displace the beam manually.

Rather than simply try and reproduce the face-to-

face experiment as closely as possible, the key

learning objectives of the experiment were

maintained while the tasks and equipment required

were amended to suit the remote nature of the

proposed session.

The purpose made equipment developed to allow

this was designed and built by staff and students of

the School of Mechanical Engineering at Leeds and

is shown in Figure 3. A pulse sent to the

electromagnet, is used to commence the experiment

by displacing the free end of the beam, then

releasing it. The user can adjust the magnitude of the

pulse signal sent to the electromagnet so that tests at

various amplitudes of vibration can be undertaken.

In addition the user can select the period of time

over which the experimental data is collected and

whether or not they wish to see a video clip showing

the movement of the beam.

Figure 3: Experimental Equipment.

To allow the effect of adding mass to be

observed, two identical beams are available for

testing, the only difference being, that one has a

know mass fixed to its free end. The exact value of

this mass is given to the student. As in the face-to-

face session, by careful measurement of the resulting

frequencies of vibration and by knowing the exact

amount of mass added, students can now calculate

experimental values for the stiffness and vibrating

mass of the beam, from a series of remote

experiments. Rather than simply give students the

dimensions of the beam and ask them to calculate

theoretical values, students were only given two of

the required three dimensions (width and depth).

Using their experimentally derived values of

stiffness and vibrating mass students were then

required to use theoretical expressions to estimate

the length of the beam. To add a competitive edge to

the exercise, prizes in the form of free memory

sticks were given to students who managed to

estimate a value for length that matched most

closely the measured value.

Beam with no

added mass

Beam with

added mass

Cantilever Beam

Shaker

Strain Guages

Electro Magnet

Webcam

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One of the key requirements of the ReLOAD

system is that, if possible, students should have an

individual experience of the laboratory session,

despite the shared nature of the equipment. This

means their results should be repeatable but different

from any other students. This can help to prevent

plagiarism to some extent and was achieved by

using active vibration damping to adjust the level of

damping applied to the beam. The signal from the

strain gauge is used to derive a velocity signal,

which was fed back into the electromagnetic shaker

to provide damping of the beam. The level of

damping was pre-selected for each student for each

beam. These values of damping were encrypted and

embedded within a personalised webpage that each

student used to access their particular ReLOAD

experiment page. A relatively simple system was

developed to allow multiple pages to be generated

automatically from a spreadsheet and a template

HTML file. Students were informed that they would

each have their own personal page and that, in their

calculations, they would have to account for their

particular level of damping. This ensured that

despite all the calculations being of the same level of

difficulty, no two student’s calculations were the

same. In addition the provision of individual pages

made scheduling of the experiments relatively

straight forward. To avoid delays to the students

caused by heavy use at particular periods, usually in

the period just before the submission deadline,

groups of students were allocated a 3 day window,

in which it was guaranteed that their personal pages

would be accessible. In addition, all pages were

made available over the weekends for students who

were unable to make use of their allocated window.

5 THE CLIENT INTERFACE

The client computer can be any computer with

appropriate internet browser software installed and

is only required to send a relatively small amount of

data to the ReLOAD Server. Upon entering their

particular personalised experiment web-page the

user is presented with an introduction and links to

allow them to run the beam either with or without

the additional mass attached. Once they have

selected the type of experiment (with or without

mass), they are presented with a ‘request’ web page

similar to that shown in Figure 4.

A standard HTML form is used to submit

information to the ReLOAD Server. Parameters are

entered into the text boxes, however it should be

noted that in this particular experiment the users

control of damping is blocked, since this is pre-

selected and is something the student must

determine as part of the experiment. In order to post

the form to the server a ‘Run experiment’ button is

used. Usually a submit button will directly post the

information in a form to the defined address.

However in this case a java-script function first

checks to see if the user has already pressed the

submit button. This is to help prevent the user from

repeatedly clicking the submit button, causing

spurious experimental requests.

Figure 4: The Client Request Web-Page.

Once the experiment has been completed and the

data returned to the ReLOAD Server the ‘results’

web-page is posted back to the client. The ‘results’

web-page, shown in Figure 5, presents data from the

experiment to the user in a number of ways.

Figure 5: The Results Web-Page.

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If requested, at the top of the page, there is a

video clip of the experiment and a set of standard

controls allowing replays, rewinding, fast-

forwarding etc. The video, displayed using a java

applet, provides a consistent experience across

different browsers and does not require the user to

download any special plug-ins. Below this, a graph

is displayed showing the beam’s displacement.

Further links to enable the user to access the raw

data are placed at the bottom of the page. A ‘Copy

data to Clipboard’ function is included, allowing

users to import data into a spreadsheet for example

and a ‘View Data’ function is also included which

allows the raw data to be viewed separately.

Figure 6: Experimental Results.

A preformatted Excel sheet is provided as part of

the experiment to allow easy presentation and

analysis of data. Figure 6 shows examples of a

typical range of results that students may get. All

were taken from the beam without added mass. The

preformatted Excel spreadsheet is used to illustrate

the range of data achievable from the same

equipment. In Figure 6 the upper results represent a

pre-selected low value for damping while in the mid

and lower graphs, data is recorded from moderate

and high pre-selected values respectively.

6 SYSTEM EVALUATION

The face-to-face version of the vibrating beam

experiment has been running successfully within the

School of Mechanical Engineering at the University

of Leeds since 1999. In 2000 a remote ReLOAD

enabled version of this laboratory session was

developed for use by Leeds students. Leeds students

are now offered the option of taking the ReLOAD

enabled version, in situations where they find it

impossible to attend the face-to-face session, due to

illness or other unavoidable circumstances. Over

subsequent years the system has been developed

further to meet the specifications outlined in section

2. In 2006, as part of an international collaboration

between the University of Leeds and the University

of British Columbia (UBC) the ReLOAD enabled

vibrating beam experiment was used as part of an

undergraduate degree programme.

UBC currently maintains two vibrations courses

in the undergraduate Mechanical Engineering

curriculum. One is at the third year level (MECH

364) and one is at the fourth year level (MECH 465).

Both courses incorporate laboratory experiments and

both courses are large with more than 90 students

registered in each. Classes this size render classic

face-to-face experiments with small group sizes and

adequate instruction, time-consuming and

logistically challenging. The acquisition of

psychomotor skills and ‘mechanical intuition’

associated with face-to-face experiments is a priority

at UBC but the requirement for small group sizes

and adequate supervision combined with the large

class sizes means that providing more than two face-

to-face experiments in semester is not plausible.

The ReLOAD system was used as an ideal

method to augment face-to-face experiments to

provide extra experiments that can be done on the

students' own timetable and on an individual basis.

The same detailed lab reports and documentation of

methods and results that is provided for face-to-face

experiments was required for the ReLOAD

experiments. In addition, it was possible to

demonstrate the ReLOAD experiments in a class or

tutorial environment with the same procedures and

software as the students themselves will use.

In March 2006, 214 students from UBC

undertook the vibrating beam experiment using

ReLOAD enabled equipment located in Leeds.

Virtually all students successfully completed the

exercise. To help us evaluate the system, students

were encouraged to revisit the website after

completing their calculations to let us know two

things; firstly to give their opinions of the ReLOAD

system’s performance, and secondly to let us know

what length they calculated for the beam, this

allowed us to check how well they had recorded and

analysed the data. To encourage students to revisit

Beam Displacement ( D= 0 )

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00.511.522.533.544.55

Time, seconds

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lacement

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Beam Displacement ( D= 50 )

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lacemen t

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Beam Displacement ( D= 0 )

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the site, prizes for the closest answer to the beams

length were awarded. This resulted in us obtaining

feedback from 39 of the 214 students.

Feedback was obtained online by the use of a

multiple choice questionnaire. This was done using

an ASP (active server pages) web-form with the

responses stored in a SQL server database. There

were nine multiple choice questions with five

possible responses, and one free writing question.

Students were assured that their feedback would

remain anonymous. The psychometric properties of

the feedback system were investigated using the

Rasch measurement model (Rasch G, 1960). The

Rasch model is a unidimensional measurement

model which in this application asserts that that the

probability of a student giving a more favourable

response about the ReLOAD system is a logistic

function of the relative distance between the

feedback question location and the students overall

satisfaction location on a linear scale.

A drop down list for the user to select their name

and a free writing area to enter the answer for the

length of the beam was also provided. The drop

down list containing student names was provided to

ensure that the answers given for the length of the

beam were attributable to the correct person, this

was necessary to allow the allocation of prizes. Once

a user had selected their name from the drop down

list and submitted their responses, the name would

be removed from the list and they would not be

asked to complete the questionnaire again. If a

response to a question had not been completed when

the form was submitted an error message appeared

asking for the missed question to be completed.

7 ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE

Of the 39 students that completed the on-line

evaluation, 8 calculated a length for the beam from

their experimental data that was within 1% of the

measured value and a further 16 were within

between 2% and 3% of the measured value.

Figure 7: Analysis of Error in Calculation.

Figure 7 shows the distribution of % error from the

measured length for all 39 students. Given the

experimental nature of the data that the students

were analysing, this result is very encouraging and

suggests students were working to a high level of

precision. However, further analysis of the data in

Figure 8, which shows all 39 students errors, reveals

that the group on the whole underestimated the

length of the beam, reasons for this are currently

being investigated.

Figure 8: Errors Obtained for Each Student.

Analysis of student feedback was also

encouraging, with students in general being very

positive about their experience of using ReLOAD.

Students particularly liked the fact it was easy to

navigate the web-site and easy to understand the

experiment. This, coupled with the fact many of the

students were able to predict the beams length to a

high level of accuracy, may suggest a more

challenging example is needed at this level. Students

also found having their own personalised page was

useful and the scheduling of experiments on

particular days did not cause any inconvenience.

Regarding the use of Video to confirm the fact this

is a real experiment and not a simulation, virtually

all thought having video made it more realistic and

again virtually all were convinced this was not a

simulation. However it is interesting to note that

despite having video available, two students were

not convinced that it was not a simulation. Further

the feedback showed that 20% of the group never

used the video option, with the majority only opting

to use it either on their first one or first few

occasions. Regarding system performance, 85%

reported being served their results within 30

seconds, with the remaining reporting having been

served data within 30 to 60 seconds. However it is

recognised that a limited response rate and suspicion

over anonymity, could bias the pattern of feedback

towards more favourable responses.

A preliminary investigation of the measurement

properties of the online feedback questionnaire was

% error in beam length

Under estimation

of beam length

Over

estimation

of beam

length

5 Prize Winning Students

123456789101112

% error in beam len

number of students

Over

estimation of

beam length

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undertaken using Rasch analysis. This suggested that

seven of the nine questions in the feedback

questionnaire formed a valid unidimensional scale.

On this small dataset the five response categories for

each item had to be collapsed to four as one of the

options failed to discriminate across the construct.

The two questions that were omitted from analysis

were qualitatively different in that their response

options looked at frequency and time as opposed to

level of agreement.

The system has proved to be very robust and

highly reliable, no inputs provided by students

caused any problems for the software. The system

was left running continuously for several months

with only one system reboot required as a result of a

campus power failure.

8 CONCLUSIONS

A system to allow remote access to experimental

equipment in an education environment has been

specified, developed and tested. The system, named

ReLOAD, uses simple web-forms to allow user

interaction and delivers experimental results also via

standard web pages, hence no specialised client

software or hardware is needed, apart from a java

enabled web browser. Java is used to display video

footage of the experiment, which helps to reinforce

the ‘real’ experimental nature of the results. A

vibrating beam experiment has been used to

demonstrate its efficacy as part of an undergraduate

engineering degree course. 214 students from the

University British Columbia (Canada) completed an

experimental investigation using equipment located

at the University of Leeds (UK). Each student’s

experiment was personalised, ensuring no two

students obtained the same data. Initial results from

a sample of those students who completed the

session are very encouraging. Students report the

system is easy to use and quick to return results,

even from thousands of miles away. Preliminary

analysis of the data suggest students worked to a

high level of precision. The system has proved to be

highly reliable and simple to maintain. It has

allowed more widespread use of high quality

experimental equipment and differences in time

zones between the host and client universities has

resulted in a more even spread of load on the host

universities computer network. Further experiments

have subsequently been developed and more are in

the process of construction. Psychometric analysis of

the student feedback system showed that seven of

the nine items formed a valid scale which could

provide a summary statistic. In addition future

developments may include questions targeted at

specific aspects which would give the students the

opportunity to be more critical of the process. Rasch

analysis could also be utilised to develop online

student assessments that meet the modern

educational standards. This approach would allow

individualised nature of the assessment process to be

accommodated through item banking. The item bank

would be a set of questions where the question

difficulty has been numerically calibrated with

respect to each question. An important aspect of

evaluation, planned for the coming year, is whether

learning outcomes of those students undertaking the

experiments remotely are different form those

undertaking face to face experiments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank National

Instruments and the Higher Education Academy

Engineering Subject Centre for their support.

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