Virtual and remote laboratory implementation in engineering education and research: Sharing, use and evaluation of online experiment resources

A plethora of online resources exist today for the study of the many different subjects in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) area. The majority of these resources have been either developed in-house by participating research organizations or higher education institutions. Professional bodies have sponsored some of these initiatives such as the International Association for Engineering Education, iNEER (International Network for Engineering Education and Research) as well as some universities across Europe (University of Porto, Portugal, University of Ulster, UK etc.). Present efforts are geared towards implementing these virtual laboratories in enhancing teaching, learning and research in specific subject areas. This paper reports on collaborative experiments between University of Porto and The University of Ulster involving the sharing of the virtual Physics suite of Laboratory for conduct of experiments exploring the concepts of interferometry. The online resources from University of Porto were made available to researchers at the University of Ulster who reports on the use of the Michelson Interferometer application for measurements of wavelength and mirror displacement. We report on the researchers' experiences and evaluation of the resources and conclude with some of the challenges and potential which such systems present.