E-Learning (The "Virtual Laboratory")

Using combined animation and simulation on the users computer ("client-side computing") virtual laboratory lessons and experiments can be created where the student can study processes in natural sciences, mathematics, technology, ergonomy, economy and more in a realistic way. The interest, motivation and commitment of the student is stimulated by an attractive and interactive content. By letting the user control the course of events herself and get immediate visual response from her choices and assumptions she gets directly involved in the process. Processes which cannot be displayed in real life (microscopic on atom or molecule scale, macroscopic in ecology and astronomy, or abstract in e.g. economy) can easily be visualized. Advanced interactive 3D animation can be mixed with plain text, conventional images and sounds i a "living book".

User language can be switched "in flight" (also menus, buttons, pop-up messages and help texts). Non-western languages like arabic, greek etc. can be used as easily as english.

High competence in natural sciences, mathematics, and technology guarantees the quality of the content.

Short Description

	Realistic interactive simulation and animation on Internet of processeses in natural sciences, technology and math
	Simulation of type "what if ...", i.e. where the user varies input values, with subsequent evaluation
	Combination of different media like 3D animation, text, image, and sound in a "living book"

Important Features

	Increased interest and motivation
	Simulation of experiments which are difficult or impossible to set up in real life
	Flexibility: time, location, content, language, and pace
	Lower costs compared to conventional learning
	The teacher can control (at the server) how the software is used

Possibilities

Complete courses

Complete courses with a series of laboratory lessons, text, sound, images, and tests can be designed

Stand-alone simulations

Stand-alone simulations can be used as separate laboratory lessons or demonstrations and be integrated with conventional teaching or other e-learning systems, resulting in an increased flexibility for the teacher. They can also be used to prepare for conventional laboratory lessons, used as an extra support for home studies, or used as material for in-depth studies.

Coupling to databases

Coupling to databases enables searching and statistical processing

Automatic tests

Multiple-choice and other simple tests can be automatically evaluated by the student or the teacher. The result can be displayed locally or sent to a server.

Coupling to spreadsheets

Export of simulation resultats to spreadsheets like MS Excel for further analysis. Support for various export formats can be implemented.

Simulation on server

In cases where the simulation requires intensive number-crunching or advanced software server-side simulation can be more appropriate. Output data are downloaded to the user for animation or other visualization.