Experiential Learning of Strength of Materials and Fluid Mechanics using Virtual Labs

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have revolutionized the teaching and learning process. It provides personalized learning while being cost effective and highly scalable. Furthermore, the advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have made it possible to deploy high fidelity, interactive web applications that provide seamless learning experience. However, the paucity of synergetic and adequate instructional support has demanded the quest for interactivity in MOOCs. Virtual Labs, an initiative by Government of India, aims to provide an interactive web interface to perform laboratory experiments (besides theoretical understanding of the subject) without affecting the experiential learning that is otherwise gained in the actual laboratory. This paper describes the design and development of Virtual Labs for two fundamentals courses of Civil and Mechanical engineering: Strength of Material (SOM) and Fluid Mechanics (FM). Subsequently, the outcomes of this work are discussed by analyzing the data collected from past four years, which reveals that these labs are an useful means to provide easy, cost effective and scalable solutions for online experiential learning.