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Grid-Based Interactive Virtual Scientific Experiments for Distributed Virtual Communities

Grid-Based Interactive Virtual Scientific Experiments for Distributed Virtual Communities
Grid-Based Interactive Virtual Scientific Experiments for Distributed Virtual Communities
E-learning technologies have matured to a point where distance learning classes are commonly offered from many leading Universities around the world. A major challenge in such distributed classrooms is the formation of virtual communities among the participating students, enhancing the overall learning experience. Shared virtual laboratories offer the possibility of forming such virtual communities as students form lab teams to run the same interactive simulation and in the course of such experiments learn to interact and understand each other better. We have designed and implemented a Virtual Scientific Experiment architectural framework on top of a Grid infrastructure for running interactive virtual laboratory experiments for such distributed student communities with visualization capabilities. The architecture is based on Web Services standard protocols such as WSDL and WS-Notification as implemented in the WSRF specification. For the first concrete instantiation of this architecture, we ported a stand-alone Wireless Sensor Network simulator written in Java in our Grid-based architecture and extended it to allow for initial collaborative parameter setup and on-the-fly visualization of the simulation execution and interaction with it, a capability not present in the original simulator. We report on results from running such simulations on a local Grid infrastructure. System evaluation results from a distributed pool of students show the added value of our system in enhancing distance-learning programs and Virtual Classes with extensible collaborative and interactive Virtual Laboratories sessions.
Virtual Scientific Experiments, Virtual Communities, GRID-based Shared Virtual Laboratories, Distance Learning, Collaborative Learning, Distributed Computing, Network Simulations, Web Services
978-1-58603-829-8
IOS Press
Christou, Ioannis T.
a81c1ff6-514a-4ea7-96fc-2c076c2b9139
Tiropanis, Thanassis
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Tsekeridou, Sofia
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Roussos, Konstantinos
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Christou, Ioannis T.
a81c1ff6-514a-4ea7-96fc-2c076c2b9139
Tiropanis, Thanassis
d06654bd-5513-407b-9acd-6f9b9c5009d8
Tsekeridou, Sofia
2ef8dd08-9745-458b-aa10-0653a1b784dd
Roussos, Konstantinos
34b2e0de-d895-4356-b1b3-76e1aefedb07

Christou, Ioannis T., Tiropanis, Thanassis, Tsekeridou, Sofia and Roussos, Konstantinos (2008) Grid-Based Interactive Virtual Scientific Experiments for Distributed Virtual Communities. In, The Learning Grid Handbook. IOS Press.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

E-learning technologies have matured to a point where distance learning classes are commonly offered from many leading Universities around the world. A major challenge in such distributed classrooms is the formation of virtual communities among the participating students, enhancing the overall learning experience. Shared virtual laboratories offer the possibility of forming such virtual communities as students form lab teams to run the same interactive simulation and in the course of such experiments learn to interact and understand each other better. We have designed and implemented a Virtual Scientific Experiment architectural framework on top of a Grid infrastructure for running interactive virtual laboratory experiments for such distributed student communities with visualization capabilities. The architecture is based on Web Services standard protocols such as WSDL and WS-Notification as implemented in the WSRF specification. For the first concrete instantiation of this architecture, we ported a stand-alone Wireless Sensor Network simulator written in Java in our Grid-based architecture and extended it to allow for initial collaborative parameter setup and on-the-fly visualization of the simulation execution and interaction with it, a capability not present in the original simulator. We report on results from running such simulations on a local Grid infrastructure. System evaluation results from a distributed pool of students show the added value of our system in enhancing distance-learning programs and Virtual Classes with extensible collaborative and interactive Virtual Laboratories sessions.

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More information

Published date: March 2008
Additional Information: Chapter: 12
Keywords: Virtual Scientific Experiments, Virtual Communities, GRID-based Shared Virtual Laboratories, Distance Learning, Collaborative Learning, Distributed Computing, Network Simulations, Web Services
Organisations: Web & Internet Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 265273
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/265273
ISBN: 978-1-58603-829-8
PURE UUID: a8822cb5-213e-45fd-b4dc-896b25819730
ORCID for Thanassis Tiropanis: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6195-2852

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Mar 2008 13:07
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:31

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Contributors

Author: Ioannis T. Christou
Author: Thanassis Tiropanis ORCID iD
Author: Sofia Tsekeridou
Author: Konstantinos Roussos

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