LabShare: Towards a National Approach to Laboratory Sharing

Abstract

Conventional undergraduate engineering laboratories are valuable in terms of their contributions to students learning but are costly to develop and maintain and have extremely low utilisation rates. These issues can be addressed through cross-institutional sharing of laboratories; however this is limited by the overarching requirement that students are located in a centrally located laboratory. In this paper we describe the nature of the challenges and the potential benefits that can be achieved if a solution can be found. A possible solution is the use of remote laboratories that can be accessed across the internet with a suitable model for laboratory sharing that promotes both institutional and individual engagement. We describe the characteristics that such a model should have.