Utilizing Internet technologies to teach laboratory courses

Laboratory experiences have always been an important part of any engineering or science curriculum. Utilizing Internet technologies to enhance this portion of curriculums faces different challenges and different rewards than with the classroom portion of a course. This paper first surveys the spectrum of Internet technologies that have been used effectively in the laboratory and then details a specific example of using Java Applets mixed with controlling measurement instruments through the Web in a junior level electronic course at the University of the Pacific.