The objectives, architectures and effects of distance learning laboratories for industrial engineering education

The concept of laboratories for distance (e-learning) with remotely controlled laboratory set-ups or virtual laboratories with different simulations have an important role in industrial engineering education and training. Although the concept is not new, there are a number of open issues that should be solved. This paper will present the fundamental objectives of learning through distance learning laboratories as well as the special issues connected with these labs, including their effectiveness. Other important questions will be addressed such as pre requests for remote controlled/virtual labs according to different stakeholders, different architectures will be compared and, finally, evaluations and students' feedback will be presented.