Remote experimentation using mobile devices

In this paper we discuss the access to remote laboratorial experiments using tablet and smartphones in education at several levels of education, focusing on physics and electronics courses. The didactic experiments integration should provide the students a new way to interact with the experimental equipment using a simple and dynamic interface, through their own mobile devices. This feature is well suited to the concept of remote experimentation, which precisely seeks to provide access to real experiments by alternative means, with users being able to access them anywhere and at anytime. We discuss the mobile learning (m-learning) concept and present proposals to be applied in high school education, benefiting from ongoing development and practical experience of two remote lab systems, namely the RExMobile application and the VISIR weblab. Both environments are presently being made available using HTML5, and CSS3 in order to support educational activities, while being compatible with different mobile devices and operating systems, such as Android, iOS, Windows Phone and others. As mobile devices are being increasingly used both in Brazil and Europe, its use in educational activities becomes a natural consequence that can provide considerable advantages. This paper discusses the problems and opportunities in this area and shares some insights from the common experience with two somewhat different teaching systems.