Collaborative activities in the remote laboratory work

Through the evolution of the Internet and its accessibility everywhere and any time, Remote Laboratories or Laboratories At Distance (LAD) are attracting more and more interest and becoming viable solutions for distance learning and sharing sophisticated equipment. Information and communication technology (ICT) is the basis for LAD and can also provide enrichment for the conventional laboratory. These new technological possibilities coincide with the emergence of new learning approaches and raise questions about the potential role of laboratory work in the training of engineering students. The techno-pedagogy is currently revolutionizing the way traditional training by bringing the experience of the laboratory in the classroom, at home and in various locations. This also allows the student to be more in touch with the technological reality of the laboratory and even industrial space through virtual tours. In addition, when using a Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach, new technologies allow considering an initial problem focus on industrial reality and on a hardware setup laboratory. With the emergence of active teaching approaches and the development of distance learning, collaborative work is required as an effective activity to support learning. The laboratory work is already based on teamwork. This paper presents two typical projects related to laboratory at distance. The first named LAD uses the control of distant existing equipment during the experimentation between different users. The second (TLAD) is based on a miniaturized electronic kit coupled to an appropriate software to perform different electronic experiments. The outcome of these two projects is presented with their advantages and drawbacks.