ENGINEERING
Northwestern Project Wins CENIC’s 2013 Innovations in Networking Award
iLabs enables a paradigm shift in the delivery of science lab experiences for students and teachers. By remotely placing expensive laboratory equipment virtually in the hands of students using Web browsers, iLabs allows students early exposure to real scientific laboratory environments. Unlike conventional facilities, iLabs can be shared and accessed widely by audiences across the world who might not otherwise have the resources to purchase and operate costly or delicate lab equipment. And because iLabs are available outside regular school hours, students can carry out their assignments from any location with Internet access, providing significantly more lab time with greater flexibility of access, and potentially improved learning outcomes. These labs enrich science and engineering education by personalizing the laboratory learning experience, permitting instructors to use class time more productively, and increasing the scope of experiments to which students have access in the course of their academic careers.
To date, over 5,800 students and teachers have used the iLab Network, running over 8000 experiments. A number of these participants are located at institutions receiving network connectivity from CENIC.
The Office of STEM Education Partnerships (OSEP) at Northwestern University continues to develop and expand the iLab Network. OSEP worked with researchers and teachers to develop curriculum for use in high schools and has offered professional development and ongoing webinars for teachers. The iLabs Remote Online Lab Network is free and available online at http://ilabcentral.org/.
Innovations in Networking Awards are given annually by CENIC to highlight exemplary innovations which leverage ultra high-bandwidth networking, particularly where those innovations have the potential to revolutionize the ways in which instruction and research are conducted or where they further the deployment of broadband in underserved areas.