Interactive Online Laboratories

We have built an inexpensive battery powered wireless laboratory system that allows students to do hands-on physics activities outside the classroom, guided by their own computer. The system, called IOLab, combines flexible software with a wireless data acquisition platform containing an array of sensors to sample and display real-time measurements of position, velocity, acceleration, force, rotation rate, orientation, magnetic fields, voltages, light intensity, sound intensity, pressure, and temperature. In this talk I will demonstrate the IOLab system and will show results from two clinical studies done at the University of Illinois to assess the learning outcomes of students performing Interactive Online Laboratories in an independent setting.