Virtual Labs is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Department under the National Mission on Education through ICT. These experiments and labs will be hosted for open access through the main project website www.vlab.co.in.The objective is to provide remote access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to students at the undergraduate level, post-graduate level, and research scholars. This platform will help students and faculty in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation. It will provide a complete Learning Management System around the Virtual Labs where the students can avail themselves of the various tools for learning, including additional web resources, video lectures, animated demonstrations, and self-evaluation.
Benefits of using virtual labs
1- Virtual labs enable students to perform many experiments that are difficult to perform in real laboratories because of the risks.
2- Virtual labs help teachers and students save time and effort because they don’t need to adhere to certain times to enter the lab, or to move from one place to another.
3- Virtual labs enable students and teachers to use the latest technologies.
4- Virtual Labs help users keep up with the technological development of the digital age.
5- Virtual labs allow students to perform practical experiments related to the theoretical courses, which helps them absorb the courses.
6- The virtual lab provides enjoyment during experiments.
7- Virtual labs help students perform the experiment more than once.
8- Virtual labs protect students and teachers from hazards, given there is no direct contact with toxic or radioactive chemicals and there is no handling of explosive devices or electricity.
9- Virtual labs provide the convenience of changing the inputs and transactions used in the experiment without worrying about any dangerous effects of these changes.
10- Virtual labs allow students to stay in touch with the Internet, which helps them search and gather information during the experiment.
11- Virtual Labs enable students to record results electronically and share them with others to exchange experiences.
12- Virtual Labs provide teachers with the opportunity to follow up and evaluate students electronically.
13- Virtual labs provide flexibility in performing experiments.