David Lowe: "Remote laboratories and mediated interactions: the real opportunity for enhancing learning"
"Remotely-accessed laboratories have grown in sophistication, and can provide significant benefits including flexibility of access and the opportunity for shared-access. However existing remote labs largely duplicate conventional labs and ignore the opportunities to reshape the ways in which we think about laboratory education. The mediated interface inherent in accessing remote labs makes it feasible to both augment and guide the interaction in ways that are impossible or impractical with traditional hands-on laboratories. Imagine a magnetics experiment where the view of the equipment is overlayed with a representation of the magnetic field. Imagine a radioactivity experiment where the student instructions are automatically adapted based on student behaviour ('what might happen if you took a longer reading?'). In this presentation the opportunities for reshaping laboratory experiences and enhancing student learning will be explored."
Professor David Lowe is Associate Dean (Education) and Professor of Software Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and IT at the University of Sydney. He is also the CEO of the not-for-profit organisation The LabShare Institute and past-president of the Global Online Laboratory Consortium. He started his career in industry as a control systems engineer, but has subsequently ranged across fields as diverse as computer vision, software engineering, web development and real-time systems. He currently has active research interests in the area of real-time control of embedded systems in the web environment, and remote access to, and control of, physical laboratory systems. He has published widely, including three textbooks. David is also passionate about supporting student learning, educational innovation and promoting interest in STEM careers.