Title: Harnessing the internet as a virtual lab

Authors: Philip Tsang

Addresses: Electronics and Communications Programme, Open University of Hong Kong, A0923, 30 Good Shepherd Street, Homantin, Hong Kong SAR, China

Abstract: Using the internet for education has become mainstreamed. It has become normal and unexceptional. There is a wide spectrum of areas in which the net is being used. Some academics focus on the cognitive model of web design for e-learning, some on classroom assessment and some on web-based education characteristics and problems. However, there is a lack of comprehensive documentation of how the net can be used as a virtual lab itself. Two important criteria in educational good practises are: (1) plenty of learning by doing; and (2) abundant feedback to learners to keep them informed how they are getting on. In these two criteria, the net provides a giant open-access |virtual lab| for learners. The goal of this paper is to present a comprehensive internet research study, Sig-Ad-Exp, to inspire the readers in using the internet for innovating their teaching and research endeavours.

Keywords: opening learning; teaching strategy; innovation; virtual labs; experimental design; Yates| algorithm; neural networks; Sig-Ad-Exp; internet research; e-learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2006.010513

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2006 Vol.3 No.6, pp.575 - 592

Published online: 27 Jul 2006 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article