Design and implementation of a Framework for remote experiments in education

TL;DR

This paper introduces FREE, a modern, flexible framework for remote educational experiments that overcomes previous limitations in architecture and communication, facilitating easier integration and development of new experiments worldwide.

Contribution

The paper presents FREE, a new web-based platform using modern technologies and architecture to improve remote experiment accessibility and integration in education.

Findings

FREE supports multiple experiment types in physics.

It integrates with various LMS and authentication systems.

The platform simplifies development of new remote experiments.

Abstract

Remote Controlled laboratories is a teaching and learning tool that increasingly becomes fundamental in the teaching and learning processes at all the levels. A study of available systems highlights a series of limitations on the used programming languages, overall architecture and network communication patterns that, that hinder these systems to be further adopted. Current technologies and modern WEB architectures allow the resolution of such limitations. Here we present the FREE (Framework for Remote Experiments in Education) platform, a novel system, that, using modern technologies, architectures, and programming practices, will be easier to integrate with external tool and services and new experiments. FREE was developed in Python, Django programming framework, HTML, JavaScript, and web services to easy the development of new functionalities. The designed architecture provides a louse coupling between the infrastructure and the remote experiments facilitating further developments and allow new experiment integrations. Currently FREE is already running in various countries providing access to about five types of experiments in the area of physics), integration with various Learning Management Systems and external Authentication mechanisms. Using FREE the development and integration of new experiments (independently of the supporting Hardware and programming language) is now easier to be made available to remote users.